The Riders Return
by thespace-dragon
Summary: Several millennia after the Dragon Riders were rebuilt, many of the races have faded, with humans rising to gain control over the world. The Riders have been pursued, hunted to near extinction, with the ones escaping this fate going into hiding. Once again they become myth, disappearing into history. A myth, that is, until a little girl finds a package on her doorstep. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**This has been edited once more! Prologue is now a bigger and better version. YAY! Special thanks to Nechochwen for all the help! The rest of the chapter is the same, but feel free to give it another read through if you've already read this. If you're new, you're lucky you didn't have to see what was before this. Be glad.**

* * *

 **AN: This has been edited and re-posted. No new information regarding the original plot line of the story has been changed. Feel free to reread if you wish!**

* * *

Prologue

Long before your great-grandfathers were born, and even before their fathers were born, Dragon Riders protected the land. They were created to maintain the peace between the elves and the dragons. Immortal unless their lives passed by an outside hand, they served as a reminder of a devastating war and to maintain the peace that followed. Thousands of years passed, the Riders upheld this standard. When the humans found their way to their land, they were added to their ranks under to the expectation of comradery. This peace did not last. One Rider, a human, defied the order, and with the help of thirteen others, overthrew the Riders and took control.

Time moves forward but this story was far from over. A new Rider entered this picture, armed with knowledge and forewarnings of mistakes from the older generation, through countless hardships, and stood his ground against the tyrant. The old dictator was overthrown, and his objective met, he turned his focus to rebuilding the Riders. They would not be the same, instead of being limited to humans and elves, the Riders would now include all races found on Alagaesia. Many years later, and peace once again restored, he faded into history and legend.

The world entered a golden age, one where elves, dwarves, and dragons existed outside of fairy tales and walked the streets of new towns among the human race. Invention and creativity flowed through the land, creating a prosperous economy. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. The humans were greedy by nature, desiring more than what could be obtained; life, land, superiority.

This new war was devastating. It waged for centuries, lasting for generations. Over time, humanity won out, gaining the control that they had fought for, forcing the other races back into storybooks once again.

The Riders had not escaped this conflict. While in the beginning, maintaining the peace had been their goal, as it had from the very beginning of their organization, no one has the power to escape time. Once the Elders, the few who remembered the wars of old, died or were killed. The great organization known as the Riders began to fracture. Soon these new factions took sides; those holding on to the ideology they had taught and preached to others, and those that wished to see a change in the centuries-old Corps. Some allied with the humans, some allied with their own kind, and some isolated themselves to avoid the conflict entirely. The once noble group known as the Dragon Riders succumbed to time and faded into memory. The golden age ended.

This war was expensive. Cities and towns wiped off the map. Land destroyed, now no longer able to bear life. Inventions once created, magic once known, all were lost to war. Mankind had been successful, but they had nearly driven themselves to extinction. Humanity found itself turning to the Riders for help, but the Riders they once knew were gone. They had integrated themselves into the humans' governmental system and led the human race into another peaceful age.

With the loss of so many, the Riders were no longer the powerhouse they had been. They left their stations and focused on themselves, but kept a watchful eye on the society they had left.

The language they had used to master magic had been lost, yet magic remained in the world. Focusing inwards on themselves, and searching for that which connected them to the world. They found that each of them had their own talents, on a much deeper level than they had originally thought. While some were able to burn down forests, others were able to heal the most severe injuries without scarring; some were able to turn the summer breeze into a freezing gale, and yet more were able to find solace in the waters they now controlled.

While magical invention had died, human ingenuity did not. The human race began to make progress in areas where magic now lacked by focusing on technology and machines. Everything simply began to evolve in complexity; the horse and wagon turned into motorized vehicles, the handwritten letter into an electronic message, the bow and arrow into a powerful firearm. The Riders saw these as normal advances in society.

Until, flight was discovered.

The Riders were now concerned. They sent a delegate to warn the Governments, as they now called themselves, against using this technology for anything but transportation for fear or widespread war. This Rider was greeted and welcomed as an esteemed guest. Over the course of the night, the Rider was told that he and the rest of his people's time were over, it was the end of an era. He was allowed to leave under peaceful terms and deliver his message. He was found dead that morning. Upon finding his body, the Riders prepared to strike back, their fears justified, but the Governments were a step ahead of them. This was no war, it was a massacre. The Riders had lost much, grown lax in their power, and failed to protect themselves properly. The first reprieve they were given had them scrambling to find a way to fight back against the Governments. Some belittled themselves, begging for their lives, others sought out the Elders for their guidance, while others still tried to find anything in the Ancient Language for its control over the power they so desperately needed. All the attempts at preserving their order were in vain, it was simply too late.

The lucky ones had died and the smart ones who saw that their time was coming hid throughout the world, running away from the horrors that were left to the others who stayed. Those that remained were taken as prisoners. They were test subjects, undergoing dissection, torture, and other experiments such that suicide was thought a better option. All of this done was in an attempt to find their source of power.

All that the Riders had done for the world was erased from history, they were demoted to scary bedtime stories for naughty children, and no longer taken seriously. They were rarely mentioned. A generation later, they were mere whispers. Another, simply forgotten.

The Governments had not forgotten and still very much desired their own Rider Corps, and they set their sights on obtaining it. After decades of research and experimentation, they were about to finally crack the secret of the Riders.

Into this world, on the brink of a new discovery, a girl is born. A girl destined to struggle and to succeed.

This is her story.

This is the story of how the Riders return.

* * *

Chapter 1

Ashley's parents had just left home to go get groceries while she and her siblings took a nap. Just a few minutes after they left, there was a knock on the door. She thought it was odd that the delivery person wasn't there when she opened the door, but she disregarded that information as she read the label on the package.

It was for her.

The little redhead's excitement made her giddy as she lugged the package inside. She didn't know why the package was for her or who sent it to her, she was just happy enough to have something to herself. These days, she always had to share with her siblings. She had to set a good example for her siblings because she was the oldest. With this box, she didn't have to share because it had her name on it. It was hers.

Ashley pulled the box into the living room and found a pair of scissors to open the box. She carefully sliced the tape along the top and freed the flaps. She opened the box and was astonished at what she found inside of it.

It was an _egg_.

Even though it's been almost a century since the war between the Riders and the Governments, the war was still taught about in school, even as early as kindergarten. Ashley knew that this was a dragon's egg, something forbidden. It was beyond her ability to understand why there were still eggs around. Having an egg appear on her doorstep should be an impossibility. She was taught that the Riders no longer existed… so how could there be eggs if the dragons were extinct as well?

Ashley thought about this for quite a while. She tried to put together the pieces; trying to figure out how this could be possible. She was never told that there were still dragons around, let alone Riders. Was it possible that the world has been lied to? She returned her attention to the egg. It looked as if it were made of liquid silver, like mercury. She reached out a hand and felt the egg. It was as smooth as glass. This spiked her curiosity. She picked up the egg out of the box and put it in her lap, continuing to stroke the surface of it.

She sat there wondering what she was going to do with this egg. Her parents weren't supposed to be home for another few hours or so, so she had time to hide it if she had to. One problem was she knew that her siblings would go through her stuff and probably find it. She couldn't have that. It was hers, and she wanted it to stay that way. The other problem was when it would hatch. What was she supposed to do with it then? She couldn't exactly get away with keeping it. That was illegal. So that was out. She could run away, but where would she go? Would she live in the woods where the dragon could provide for both it and her? It was the best option she had since she knew enough about the Riders that she knew that the dragon and the Rider would bond pretty much right after it hatched.

 _What was she going to do?_

At the moment, her room was fairly clean, so it would be a few days before she had to clean it again with her mother. She could hide it under her bed for now. Ashley was suddenly glad her sibling were still in the diaper stage. It made it so much easier on their parents to keep those two in a room together with all the diaper supplies.

Ashley grinned at that thought and stood up, hugging the egg to her chest. She waddled to the back of the house where her room was located. As she walked past her siblings' room, she could hear her brother's snores and her sister's bed creaking as she rolled over. Both were a few years younger than her, but they were quite close in age.

Ashley made it to her bed and propped the egg up in a corner, next to her pillow. She began to pile on her stuffed animals to hide the egg. It wasn't a terribly difficult task. She had plenty of stuffed animals that could be spared for the camouflage. Once she had placed the final stuffed animal, she scrambled off her bed and stood on the opposite side of the room. From where she stood, the egg and the stuffed animal cover simply looked like a giant pile of the plushies she had been gifted on nearly every occasion and holiday. Ashley took pride in the fact that she was able to hide the egg in plain sight.

But what if her parents found out? Or her siblings went through her things again? Ashley felt the rising despair in her gut and she made her way to the bed again. She reached a hand through the stuffed animal pile and placed it on the egg. It warmed to her touch and she felt a sense of ease seep into her. For now, everything was going to be alright. She had to take everything one step at a time. It was a lot like reading. One word at a time her mother had told when she had first started to learn. Soon enough, Ashley had found herself reading whenever she got. It was the one thing her mother had taught her before she was too busy with her brother and sister. Her dad was never around, he was constantly working. He had no time for the three kids, not just Ashley.

Ashley frowned at the memory. It seemed like she was being overlooked by someone. Her parents, her classmates, her teachers. It was as if she was a ghost. She didn't understand it. She had bright red hair for gosh sake, how do people miss that? Ashley clenched her fist and rubbed her hand on the egg again. Again she felt comforted like she would be able to meet her friend in a few days. Ashley smiled at the pile of stuffed animals.

"I'll be back. I have to go clean up my mess from your box. Then we can take a nap." The little girl slid off her bed and tottered into the living room.

She was thankful that the box didn't have any of those packing peanuts. In fact, the box was empty except for the egg before she removed it. The box was only taped together, so it made it easy for the five-year-old to collapse it without too much trouble. In all honesty, she really was almost six. The dog came out of nowhere when she opened the door to the garage when she went to put the box in the recycling bin. He rushed into the empty garage and started to sniff around, but came when she called for him to come back inside once she was done. She scratched his ears for being a good boy as she closed the door, he wagged his tail and licked her hand before walking away. Ashley went back to her room and laid down on the bed, her hand buried into the pile of plushies she had created and brushed her fingertips against the egg. Before long the little girl was fast asleep, a small smile on her face.

* * *

It had been a week since the egg had been delivered to their home, but Ashley's family was still clueless to what Ashley had hidden under her pile of stuffed animals. Her parents didn't really question why she suddenly decided that was where all of her furry friends were going to stay, considering it kept them from being placed throughout the house or one of the dog's toys. Her siblings didn't seem to care either, they were too busy being pampered by her parents to bother going through her stuff. The school was no different, teachers and classmates still acted like she wasn't there, but Ashley didn't have to worry about them coming into her home and looking through her things.

Today was the day for the family to go grocery shopping again, and her parents had asked her to watch the dog while they were gone. They had taken her brother and sister with, so Ashley didn't have to worry about them for once. Plus with her siblings tagging along for the grocery shopping today, it was going to take her family much longer to come back home. So, she decided it was a good idea for her to take out the egg and let it sit in her lap out in the living room.

She sat in the middle of the living room with it in her lap as she stroked the shell. It was a calming habit she had taken up, much like working a stress ball. Over the week, the egg had grown warmer and warmer. Each time she had touched it, it had grown warmer. Even now as she continued to stroke the surface.

A moment later, the egg started to wobble in her lap. Scratching sounds started to come from it. Now the nightmare was coming true.

Ashley quickly put the egg on the floor and scooted backwards, to give the dragon plenty of room to hatch. She watched, fascinated, as cracks appeared on the surface of the shell. After five minutes of watching the egg gain more and more fractures on its surface; it finally burst apart and a silver dragon about the size of a house cat laid in the remnants of the egg shell. It opened its eyes and looked directly at Ashley as if it's been looking for her for years. There was relief, love, friendship, kindness, and intelligence in those storm gray eyes as Ashley looked back into them.

She reached for the dragon as it stretched its neck out to her. When they touched, she felt a tingling over her heart. After a few seconds, the tingling stopped and Ashley knew she was now marked as Rider.

She had to leave.

Ashley had left a note saying that she had to leave for her family's safety and for her own. She left the egg fragments where they were and knew that her family would make the connection and wouldn't try to follow her. They would be too scared to anyways. She knew her parents well enough that her father wouldn't risk his job over his daughter leaving, let alone tell them that he was now the father of a Rider. She picked up the dragon, cradling him in her arms. She took one last look at her home and then walked out of the door; refusing to look back, knowing she would run back inside.

The girl walked down the street, heading towards the woods that were close to her side of the neighborhood. Ashley reached the edge of the woods and stopped for a moment. The trees stood tall and their thick canopies made it difficult for the sunlight to make its way to the ground, casting a gloomy light throughout the interior. Ashley shoved down her fears and took a deep breath. No way was she going to let the woods get the best of her. She made her way inside, trekking along a deer path.

She walked through the woods for what felt like hours. She had left around lunch time, and she hadn't bothered to pack any food. Ashley lowered her head and looked at the dragon in her arms as she struggled to figure out how she was going to survive.

The dragon raised its quicksilver head and stared into her troubled blue eyes. He seemed to understand that times were going to be difficult for a while. They continued to trudge along in the woods, changing paths whenever the one they were currently on became too overgrown for Ashley to keep travelling along it.

As she walked, she wondered what she was going to call the dragon, her dragon now. She liked the idea of Mercury since he was the color of the stuff.

 _I like the name Mercury._

"What was that!?" Ashley asked, looking around frantically. "Who was that?"

 _I am your dragon._

"My . . . dragon?"

 _Yes, your dragon._

Ashley was astonished to find out that there was a mental connection between a Rider and their dragon. The teachers at school never mentioned this. Not one word about how strong the bond actually was between Rider and dragon.

 _So do you want to be called Mercury?_ Ashley asked the dragon, trying out the telepathic speaking.

 _I wouldn't mind it. So yes,_ said the dragon.

 _Okay, Mercury._

Ashley smiled to herself. It was nice to have a friend finally. In school, she never had a friend that lasted more than a month or so. The longest one she had was a girl that became friends with her and stayed friends with her for the whole year she was in pre-school. Then she moved. That was this past year. Now it was the beginning of the next school year, and four months in, Ashley still had no new friends. The worst part of all this was that no one would talk to her either. She didn't know how to make friends if they didn't talk to her when she tried talking to them. She didn't understand it.

 _You don't have to understand it. Some people are just able to make friends while others simply can't,_ Mercury said. He huffed and two small smoke rings puffed from his nose.

Ashley giggled as the smoke dissipated around her. _That's not what confuses me. What confuses me is that after I try to talk to them, they just ignore me like I ignore my siblings. I was pretty much on my own during most of my time in school._

By now, they had crossed a clearing and were now starting to reenter the trees on the other side. Ashley was thoroughly enjoying herself, considering she had never really had a conversation with anyone, even with that girl that had just moved. All they did together was play outside, and once they were inside, Ashley was ignored again. Ashley could stand that much, but not the continuous being looked over part. It wasn't like Ashley could be mistaken for someone else either. She had red hair that curled like Shirley Temple's did. She had blue eyes, and with her red hair, she had naturally pale skin. She looked at her skin compare to Mercury's scales as the continued to walk. She noticed that her skin even pales next to his silvery scales.

 _Do you think that there are more Riders out there?_ She asked.

 _I do_ , replied the dragon. _But the problem is finding them. I can't exactly fly around yet, my wings are too small for me, let alone for both of us. If I was sent to you, there has to be another Rider at least. They can't be that far away either because they had to know that I would hatch soon after I was with you._

 _That makes sense, I guess. So why haven't they found us yet? I wouldn't want my parents to come find us in these woods and then turn us in. Even though the Governments haven't been mean to us, they still don't support the Riders at all._

 _True. I'm pretty sure we would just become another one of their experiments once they get their hands on us._

 _How'd you know about the Governments doing that to the Riders when they found one?_ Ashley didn't quite understand how something, who was just introduced to the world, had any knowledge of what happened before it became a part of the world.

 _The people that brought me to you talked about your Governments and what they did to the Riders while we were travelling to your home here. Dragons that are still in their eggs aren't completely unable to have thoughts and memories. We are able to think and examine the minds around us as well. So if there was a person around us, that we just somehow_ know _, then we hatch and bond with that person._

 _Oh, still kind of weird, though._

 _I know, but it's the way we are by nature._

As they continued to walk through the woods, Ashley's arm grew tired of carrying Mercury, so she put him down on the forest floor. Mercury instantly set off for the nearest tree. He noticed that the trees were fairly spaced out, far enough apart for a dragon the size of a large dog could spread his wings and take flight. Ashley watched as he spread his wings and leap from the tree he had climbed and glide down onto her shoulder, where he nuzzled her in the ear. She reached up and scratched him just behind the jaw.

"What if I called you Mer?" She asked aloud, trying to break the silence that had ensued ever since they entered the woods.

 _I like that too. May I call you Ash then?_ The silver dragon countered.

"That's what my parents called me. I wouldn't mind it." The girl responded. The reminder of her parents didn't bother her. It was just another connection that she could hold onto for the time being. She smiled at Mer, reveling in the friendship they had created so easily.

They continued through the woods until it was almost sunset, and it was then that they stopped at a tree that was just at the edge of a break in the tree line. It was also a place where they could watch the sun officially set. Ash started to feel drowsy and was starting to fall asleep, curled up at the base of the tree.

 _Stay awake, there's something coming._ Mer nudged her gently with his muzzle.

 _Do you have an idea of where it's coming from?_ Ash asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Suddenly they heard the _wump_ of gigantic wings pushing through the air. Ash quickly stood up and Mer jumped in front of her, back arched, scales bristling. A few minutes passed, and a large black silhouette appeared in the sky, blocking out the stars and the moon that were just appearing in the sky. Ashley pressed herself up against the tree. Mer stood where he was, his demeanor more relaxed. It was probably because of the presence of another dragon.

 _Mer, do you think that they are nice?_ Ash asked.

 _Yes. They are here to help us._

Ash watched as the large dragon grew bigger and bigger as it got closer. With the last of the light still reaching over the horizon, she was able to make out the color of the dragon. It was dark purple at this point in the day. Ash glanced at Mer again, and he seemed calmer, so calm that he seemed to be in a trance. Ash used his peacefulness to calm herself and stepped out of the tree to stand by him.

They watched as the other dragon landed. The thing was huge, more than likely it was bigger than Ash's house. She stood there awe-stricken as she watched the dragon settle itself in the clearing. Mer's eyes were wide with just as much awe as she was feeling. What they least expected was for its Rider to step off and come over to them. They didn't know why they had expected just a dragon, but then again they didn't know what they were going to expect either when they were started to hear the _wump_ of its wings. They both stood still as the Rider walked over to where they were.

"Don't you know that the woods are a dangerous place at night?" The Rider asked.

Ashley nodded. "But we had nowhere else to go."

"'We?'"

Apparently the Rider hadn't seen Mercury yet.

"Mer and I. We couldn't stay at my house because my parents would turn us in and I wouldn't be able to see him ever again as soon as the Governments came and got us." Ash gestured to her silver dragon and then looked back at the Rider.

The look on the Rider's face was hard to read with the bad lighting, but Ash was able to, at least, hear the caution in their voice. The Rider stepped closer and lowered their voice. "Listen. You cannot stay here. You both have to come with me. Never say your dragon's name aloud again till we are at a safe place. Come, now. We must fly to get there."

"But I don't even know your name. How am I supposed to trust you if I don't know your name?" Ash stood where she was as the Rider stepped towards their dragon.

"My name you will learn soon enough, Ashley. You and Mercury are not safe. We must go. Now." The Rider said in return.

"How come you get to know my name? And how did you know that his full name was that?" Ash asked, not quite willing to trust the stranger.

"You have your mind open for anyone to read it if they wanted. Another reason why you both need to come with me." The Rider scoffed. They were starting to lose their patience with the five-year-old.

Ash glared at the Rider, as much as the small girl could. "Then how come you said his name out loud when you told me not to?"

The Rider sighed and looked down at the little girl. They realized that this girl was smarter than what she would show to the people around her. Her parents probably did not even know exactly how smart this girl was for her age. The Rider watched the girl, who was still glaring at them. They sighed again and kneeled down in front of her. "Look we do not have all the time in the world to argue about what either of us do or say at the moment. The Governments can be here any moment. They may have grown lax with their surveillance of this area, but that does not mean that they will not see what is going on." The Rider explained, not sugar coating the reason any longer.

Ash's eyes grew wide with the Rider's straight forward words.

"Do you want to put you and your dragon in danger by staying out here by yourselves? You can, I will not force you to come with me. But if you want to survive, you will have to trust me."

Ash didn't want to put Mer in any danger. It pained her tremendously to think about. Mer looked at her long and hard. Finally, he nodded and leapt onto her shoulder. He landed lightly and nuzzled her ear, giving her the encouragement she needed.

"Okay," Ash said as she followed the Rider to the gigantic dragon.

The Rider lifted her and Mer into a saddle of sorts and started to strap her legs in.

"Put your dragon in your lap or he'll blow off in the wind." The Rider instructed. "And hold onto him."

Once they were done with strapping Ash into the saddle, the Rider climbed on behind her and the dragon rose to its feet. It stretched its huge wings and then leapt into the air, beating its wings rapidly to gain lift. Ash held Mer tightly to her chest and leaned back into the Rider as the dragon gained altitude quickly. Ashley had never flown before. She was scared and fascinated at the same time. She had the feeling of weightlessness and total freedom. The feeling of a dragon moving beneath her was like an electrical transmission telling her just how powerful the dragon was. It made her wish Mer was big enough to fly her around.

"How long will it take for my dragon to get to the point where he can fly me around like this?" Ash asked. "And when will I learn your name? What's your dragon's name?"

"One question at a time, child. To begin with, your dragon will probably take a year or more to grow to this size he, himself, needs to be in order to fly. Another half a year or more to be able to fly with you on his back." The Rider answered.

"Okay, so what's your name?" Ash asked again. Ash still hadn't figured out whether or not this Rider was a boy or a girl. Their voice didn't give it away and it was too dark by now to see their face. And down in the clearing, enough sun was able to get through the trees that the Rider was constantly in a shadow because they had stood in front of the sun.

"My name I will tell you when we get to the safe house. There it will be safe for me to tell you my name, along with my dragon's name." The dragon rumbled in agreement as it tilted its wings and started to arc towards the left.

Ashley settled for that and she was quiet for a few minutes. She was mulling over what had happened to her over the whole course of the day. As she went over the previous conversation with the Rider, she felt as something was slightly odd about something the Rider had said.

"How did you know our names?" She asked.

"Excuse me?" The Rider said, caught off guard by her question.

"How did you know my name and my dragon's name?" She reiterated.

"I already told you. I will give you a better explanation when we -"

"- When we get to the safe house. Yeah, yeah, I get it." Ash sulked and hugged Mer closer to her chest.

"I am sorry, but it is the only way to be safe. Everything _will_ be explained once we are there.

Ash nodded and remained quiet, not understanding why things had to wait. Why should information have to wait? Especially when they were high up in the sky, away from everyone?

She turned her attention to the landscape below them. As long as they had been flying, the landscape hadn't changed at all. The only difference was that the trees were now packed tightly together. The dragon started to descend towards the trees gradually and a large clearing appeared in the tree tops. Inside of the clearing was a large house and a stable with a paddock. The dragon dove into the clearing and landed lightly in the paddock by flapping its wings, slowing it down considerably.

When the dragon was down, the Rider got off and started to undo the straps around Ashley's legs. As soon as she was free, she slid down the dragon's shoulder and into the Rider's arms, who then set her down on her feet. Mer chirped as he looked around the paddock with the same curiosity that Ash did. The paddock was big enough to have two of the Rider's dragon in it. Ashley's jaw dropped, as she set Mer down on the ground. In the stables, from what she could see with the flood light behind her on the house, there were five or six beautiful horses in their stalls.

"What are the horses for?" She asked.

"They are to practice riding. Riding a dragon is surprisingly similar to riding horses." The Rider answered.

"What else to Riders get to do?"

"We basically watch for new Riders, like you, and raise them, teach them, train them, till they are ready to fight the Governments. The oldest of us still remembers the pain they caused our fallen Riders. She remembers the pain that she caused to their soldiers."

"Why does she care about that?" Ashley asked, slightly confused.

"The Riders are not uncompassionate. We care about these who suffer. We strive to not cause anyone pain because that causes us pain as well." The Rider explained.

"Why do we worry about our enemies feelings?"

"We worry about our enemies because we care about all life. We care about every life that is in this world right now, and forever we will be. Every life is a treasure, and should not be wasted."

"What does 'uncompassionate' mean?"

Ashley could tell that the Rider was getting more and more frustrated with all of her questions, but she was glad that finally the Rider was answering them.

"It means uncaring, that one doesn't care about another person, place, or thing. That's the general meaning." The Rider explained, slightly exasperated.

Ashley yawned, a hand over her mouth, and rubbed her eye with the other. All that has happened today was catching up to her. The Rider noticed and smiled slightly. Even though it had only been a few hours since Mercury had hatched and bonded with her, the day had been full.

"Come on, let's get you to bed, little one." The Rider said.

The Rider picked her up and started to carry her towards the house. Ashley was too tired to care that she was being carried around even though she was almost six years old. She was just happy enough to be able to sleep.

After the Rider had put the little girl in bed with her dragon she went to her study and sat down to think. This girl was going to be a handful. She could already tell that the girl was spirited and determined to finish out anything she sets her mind to, with anything but perfect results in her sights. She predicted that at some point she will have a rebellion streak, only because of her stubbornness.

The Rider shook her head as she presented what she thought to her dragon. _So what do you think?_ She asked.

 _I think she will be a great Rider once she learns all that there is to know about the Riders. But . . ._ The dragon left its sentence hanging.

 _But what?_ The Rider asked.

 _She's young. We've never had a Rider this young before. We are her parents now. And will be for the rest of her life._ The dragon finished.

 _You are right. She is the youngest in our history, but I think she will always remember where she came from._

 _She's bright. She will not be easy to pull surprise attacks on._

The Rider laughed out loud, smiling briefly. _Go get some sleep, my friend. You need it._

 _The same to you._

 _Goodnight, Nyetia._

 _Goodnight, A'ilarin._

* * *

 **AN: I feel a lot better about this now that it has been updated. I fixed a lot of the pacing issues, so even though it's a monster of a chapter, I think it turned out better this way.**

 **Please R &R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

* * *

Chapter 2

Over the course of the next eleven years, almost twelve, A'ilarin and Nyetia raised Ashley and Mercury to young adults. By this time they had reached the point where A'ilarin could no longer teach Ashley in her schooling, and Nyetia could no longer teach Mercury anymore flying tactics. The two younglings have now been lying idle for a month, and they were beginning to get bored of the same routine: wake up, combat practice, lunch, school; which has turned into empty hours of the day, dinner, homework (even more empty hours), and then bed. Every day, the same thing.

The empty hours were either spent going over weapon techniques or flying over the area. Ashley has become very adapt with dual weapon and hand to hand techniques, archery, and an exceptional flier to A'ilarin's standards. Mercury was everything that he was able to be. A strong flier and fighter. Both Ashley and Mercury had quick minds and were never easily fooled but therefore easily bored. A'ilarin and Nyetia were left struggling to find more valuable lessons the two could be taught.

Ashley looked at the sky as she settled into the leather saddle that had been specifically crafted for a Rider and their ever growing dragon. As of right now, after eleven years if being trained and bonded with Mer, Ashley had grown into a well balanced teenage girl. Mer had grown to the same size as Nyetia. The environment they lived in restricted the dragons' size, or else they wouldn't be able to fit into the stables at the house, let alone be able to land in the paddock.

Mer still had the same silvery luster that he had when he had first hatched in Ashley's living room. Ashley smiled, remembering the shock she had experienced when his egg had hatched. Ashley on the other hand, had changed. She was no longer the round faced, Shirley Temple haired, little naïve girl from that time. Her hair had lost some of the curls but maintained a few waves. Her eyes had gotten darker over the years; they were now a stormy blue to match Mer's stormy gray. She had been told that the eyes of a Rider and their dragon's would eventually complement each others. So A'ilarin's and Nyetia's eyes had a jewel quality to them because of Nyetia's amethyst eyes. A'ilarin's eyes had become an emerald green over the years of being bonded with Nyetia.

Mer stooped quickly into a dive, shaking Ashley out of her reverie. She grabbed a hold of the saddle horn with her hands in order to keep from being ripped from her seat.

 _What was that for?_ She asked Mer as he leveled out of the dive.

Mer laughed, his whole frame vibrating from his rumbling. _I did that so I wouldn't lose you to your thoughts._

 _Hah, right. You would never lose me for a reason like that._

 _That's because I am here and I won't let that happen._ He laughed again.

 _Let's go home. A'ilarin and Nyetia will be wondering where we went._

Mer rumbled a response, causing his whole frame to vibrate for the third time as he angled his way home.

Ashley was glad the she had so much freedom, but after so many punishments for abusing her freedom, she learned to cherish and respect it. A'ilarin demanded respect just by her presence. Nyetia did the same. Both had become as close to a family that Ashley and Mer could possibly hope to have. They had raised and taught them many things, but there were many things that even they couldn't teach Ashley and Mer. They would have to learn those lessons on their own.

Mer angled down into the paddock and landed softly on the ground in front of Nyetia.

"Hey, Nyetia, where is A'ilarin?" Ashley asked as she undid the straps of her riding saddle.

 _She is in her study at the moment, pondering what to do with the two of you._ The purple dragon responded.

"Thanks, Nyetia."

Ash slid off Mer's back and onto the ground.

 _Keep me posted._ Mer said as she made her way to the house.

 _Of course._ She waved a hand and went through the door.

The house was originally a riding camp for horseback riding. They still had the horses that A'ilarin had found when she first found this place. They were emaciated, and she nurtured them back to the strong animals they were before. From what Ash knew of A'ilarin and Nyetia was that they were perhaps the only surviving Rider and Dragon pair from the time of the War. When Nyetia flies in the sunlight, one can see the scars from those battles in her wing membranes.

Ashley made her way down the hallway that led to A'ilarin's study. Ashley was curious as to what A'ilarin could possibly have planned for her and Mer. Whatever it was, she did not have a good feeling about it.

She knocked on the door and waited for A'ilarin's permission to enter before she came in. As she opened the door she noticed Nyetia's eye was in the window, along with Mer's in the other.

 _Well I guess I don't have to keep you posted now._ Ash said to Mer.

Mer huffed in reply. _A'ilarin called me over._

 _Ah. Figures._

Ashley looked at A'ilarin as she sat down in one of the chairs in the study. The study was full of oak. Oak flooring, oak desk, oak bookshelves, and even an oak grandfather clock that stood in the corner behind the desk and opposite the bookshelves.

Ashley sighed and focused her attention on A'ilarin. She was young looking for her age, which had to be closing in on 120 years old. She had been in her twenty's when the War occurred and that was a hundred years ago.

"What is this about, A'ilarin? What do you have planned for us?" She eventually asked.

A'ilarin ran a hand through her shoulder length brown hair and sighed. "I want you to know that after this conversation is over, that none of what is going to happen is going to be your fault." She said.

"What do you mean 'our fault'?" Ashley's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

"None of what it is going to happen over the next two years is your fault. You both have exceeded our schooling so much faster than what we had anticipated. We no longer have anything to teach you." A'ilarin explained. "The lessons that you need to learn happen when you are surrounded by people your own age."

"What?" Ashley was aghast. "You're sending me back to the public schools? Don't you remember how I was treated in kindergarten? Don't you remember what I told you about that?"

"This has not failed to escape my mind, Ashley. I have thought about the experiences you have had when you were a child, and you are still a child. But this needs to be done in order for you to grow into yourself more."

"What is that supposed to mean? I have grown into myself, into the Rider that you have raised me to be. What more room is there to grow?"

"Plenty since you have forgotten how to control your tongue."

Ashley opened her mouth and snapped it shut after a second, thinking better of what was going through her mind. What A'ilarin was saying was that she probably was going to separate Ashley from Mer to teach them the independence they need from each other in order to work efficiently as a two separate units if it came down to it.

 _So what are you planning to do, A'ilarin?_ Mer asked tentatively.

"I am sending Ashley to the local high school. You, Mercury, are going to be working with Nyetia on your magic." A'ilarin said without any emotion or looking away from Ashley.

"Magic?" Ashley asked.

 _Magic allows us dragons to perform feats that our Riders cannot do. Riders have lost their magic of the centuries. Each generation of Riders had less and less ability._ Nyetia answered.

"We had magic?" Ashley asked.

"Yes. But it has been so long since we had any need for it, and having children with people who had no magic in their blood had diluted it as well. We now have only enough magic to be able to communicate with our dragon. Everyone has enough magic for that, so therefore anyone can be a Rider." A'ilarin continued.

"Okay, so why do I have to go to high school? Can't you get the course schedules and home school like me you have been?"

"I am sending you to school because you need to relearn how to act around people in a society. You know how to act around people who are like me, but not everyone is like me. It will be an important learning experience for you."

A'ilarin looked at the clock on her desk and sighed heavily. "It is late. Go to bed. School starts in a week, you might as start getting used to your new sleeping habits."

Ashley knew she was dismissed and knew that there would be no more arguing with A'ilarin. She accepted it and left the room.

 _Ash, don't worry about not fitting in. Just be yourself around new people._ Mer said as Ash made her way to the paddock. _I'm positive that they will like you._

Ashley went to the stables, remaining silent. She was furious. She couldn't believe that she was being forced to go to school. A high school? Of all the places to send her!

 _Ash, calm down. This isn't the end of the world._ Mer said as she kicked a bucket across the aisle between stalls, startling the horses.

There were two large stalls for Mer and Nyetia to both be in for the nights. It also allowed for them to leave whenever they wanted. Ash walked into Mer's stall and looked around. She felt that since she was going to be stuck in a school for seven hours out of the day that she would become disconnected from her home here. She would miss being surrounded by the trees and the forest life. She would miss the tranquility that permeated the place. She felt that she would get lost in the hustle and bustle of school life; she was afraid she wouldn't be able to make friends. That she would end up alone like she was before. She didn't know whether she would be able to handle that again. Ash knew she wasn't completely alone, she had Mer, A'ilarin, and Nyetia with her and there for her at all times. The problem was that she when she was surrounded by people her age, she felt invisible and ignored, not a part of any group and just the girl that keeps to herself because she doesn't know what to say or do.

 _Ash, remember what A'ilarin said?_ Mer said after he saw where her thoughts were going.

 _Mer. I don't care that this is a learning experience. I'm scared that I'll either be found out or just shunned from society in general._ Ash responded. _That's what I am worried about._ She pinched the bridge of her nose, rubbing the side of her nose with her thumb as she tried to quiet her inner rage.

Mer walked into his stall and lay down. He looked back at Ash and shook his head. _You don't realize that you, as a person, have changed over the past eleven years. Your personality has changed you have become more agreeable with people, not only your age, but with other ages as well._

 _So what do you want me to do?_

 _I want you to have an open mind towards the people you are going to spend most of the year with._

 _All I can do is try, Mer, but I can't promise anything._

 _Then try your hardest. The more you seclude yourself, the larger the chances are that you'll be found out. Do you want that to happen?_

 _Of course I don't!_

 _Then do what you have to do in order for to keep that from happening._

"Mercury. This is ridiculous. I know what I have to. I don't need to be told twice." Ash said hotly. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

With that she stalked off back to the house.

Mer watched her go. He knew she was deeply troubled. This was the first time in years that she had used his full name. He felt bad that he had caused her to snap at him, but since they were so emotionally attached to each other and they know how the other feels about anything, how they react to events and topics, and mainly they know how the other thinks.

The liquid silver dragon sighed and a billow of smoke came out of his nostrils. This situation was different. He didn't know why this was such a hard thing for Ashley. The dragon looked out the door, and just watched as lights were turned off as the house was slowly going to sleep. One light stayed on as the rest of the house went black. Mer had the sense that it wasn't Ashley's. The light turned off and he listened for the rustle of the person getting into bed. There was no rustle, but there ended up being a creak of weight on the steps as someone was coming down the stairs.

 _It has to be A'ilarin._ Mer thought.

As Mer watched the door open, he saw the flash of the ring A'ilarin wore in memory of the Rider Corpse that was in order before the War.

Mer sighed again and got up and walked out of the stables to meet A'ilarin in the paddock. A'ilarin leaned on the fence as Mer stood in front of her.

"Mercury. I have the feeling that you are upset about something. Yes?" A'ilarin said in the way she always did when either Mer of Ashe were upset.

 _True. I am worried about Ash._ Mer answered.

"What do you think is bothering her?" A'ilarin asked.

 _I am worried about what is going to happen to her while she is at the school. What if she's found out? And then she is taken away?_

"She will be fine. She knows what she has to do."

 _And what if that fails too? What then?_

"Mercury, you trust her right?"

 _Yes, I do. With my life._

"Then trust her with her own." With that, A'ilarin walked back to the house.

Mer stood in the paddock and watched his teacher walk back to the house and listened to her go to her room. He was surprised that Nyetia did not show up during his conversation with A'ilarin. A'ilarin was right about trusting Ash to know what to do. She trusts him whenever she flies with him. So who is he to have said what he did?

 _Mercury, you are being too hard on yourself. She already forgave you for what you said to her._ Nyetia said as she came out of the shadow of the house.

 _How do you know?_ Mer asked.

 _She told me before she took some pain-killers to get rid of her headache and to help her sleep._

Mercury sighed and stretched his wings out in order to release some tension in his shoulders. He understood that he was wrong and that he was being unfair because of the fear of him and Ash being separated. He tried his hardest to rationalize the fear, but it would not let itself become a statistic, a probability. Frustrated, Mer gave up and went to the corner of the paddock and lay down, resting his head on the fence. He laid there listening to the silence of the night. There he fell asleep till the next morning.

* * *

 **Please R &R!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

One week later, Ash found herself laden with school supplies and stepping onto a large vehicle known as a bus. She had never really been through this part of school transportation. She had only been in her parent's truck, and that only lasted to and from kindergarten. She never had gotten to attend elementary or middle school, and now she was being thrust into what would be normal students' third year of high school. They had already formed their group of friends and already knew who their teachers are, and where to find them. Ash felt like she was dropped into the ocean not knowing how to swim.

As she walked down the isle of the bus, the kids offered her no seat, saying "this one's taken" and staring her down until she moved past them. No one went out of their way to help the new girl, in fact the unwelcome feelings made her feel even more out of place. Ash moved farther into the back of the bus, found someone who was sleeping, and quickly sat down before they woke up and would not let her sit down. She looked over and noticed that the person was a tall, lanky boy of about sixteen, almost seventeen. Roughly the same age as her. He had his knees tucked up against the back of the seat in front of them so that his feet were not touching the ground. His backpack was on the floor of the bus, underneath his dangling feet. His arms were crossed across his chest, one hand holding a device that was blasting music with heavy percussion and screaming. The music was loud enough that even with a wire leading up to pieces that were set into his ears, that Ash could hear everything as if she were listening to it herself. His hair was longer than it probably should have been; it was light brown and flipped outwards towards the ends, away from his face. His mouth was hung open as he slept and it made his face appear longer, although he was going a few weeks with unshaven, the "scruffiness" made his face more angular. Ash soon realized that she was staring and she looked forwards, to the front of the bus and locked eyes with a girl who had turned around to watch at her.

"He's taken, just so you know." She said.

Ash looked at the boy and then back to the girl. "Okay, like I even care about that." She responded quietly, not meeting the girl's eyes. "I don't want to cause trouble."

"Never said you were. Though you kinda make it easy with your big Bambi eyes looking at everything like you've never seen it before." The girl widened her eyes and looked around and then back to Ash, a light smile on her face.

"I've lived a very sheltered life for pretty much my whole life. And I have been home schooled that whole time. I've never been to a public school nor on a school bus." Ash explained, with a sigh. "This is all new to me, sadly."

The girl laughed. "You poor thing," She laughed again. "My name is Kate. The guy you're sitting next to is Jason. He's a nice guy once you knock down all the walls around him."

"I'm Ashley, but I prefer Ash." She stole a glance at the boy Jason. "What do you mean by 'knock down all the walls'?" She asked.

"Oh, by that I mean he's really secretive and keeps to himself. How his girlfriend was able to figure him out is beyond me, but props to her." Kate explained.

"Ah, I guess that makes sense."

"Yeah. And his girlfriend is a real bitch to any other girls around him. So watch out for her when we get to school." Kate gave Jason a quick look and then turned around, ending the conversation.

Ash looked at Jason and noted that he was not a bad looking boy, and to be honest with herself, she felt that they were more alike than what she wanted to admit. For the most part she ignored the feeling, it wouldn't do her any good in the long run. She thought about what Mer would say if he found out that she had a crush on a guy that they both know he would not be able to know anything about her; for fear of the government finding out.

None of the other people on the bus spoke. Ash sat back and relaxed the little that she could. This was not going to be an easy six months.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry this one's really short. It's really just a filler to get Ash into school. Hope you enjoyed! CH 4 will be up in a couple of days, promise.**

 **Please R &R!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When they arrived at the school, Ash was thrust into pandemonium. All she was equipped with was a map of the school and a list of classroom numbers. Everyone around her, after she stepped off the bus, ran to the school to find their friends, couples gravitated towards each other automatically and trailed away from the crowds. Ash stood there taking it all in and wishing she had Mer's two front legs placed on either side of her. He always did that, just to let her know that he was there. She sighed and walked into the school.

"Hey, wait up!" Someone yelled from behind her.

Ash looked over her shoulder and watched as Kate ran up to her. "If you are new, you're going to get lost in there." She said.

Ash smiled for the first time in the past week. Maybe people have changed since the time she was younger.

"Thanks, Kate. I missed the walkthrough, so I'll be lost no matter what I do." She said.

"Yeah. They usually have an orientation meeting for the new students throughout the summer." Kate said.

"I just moved here a week ago. I was busy unpacking everything." Ash explained.

"Well, you're coming in as a junior right?"

"Yeah."

"Let me see your schedule. I'm a junior too; maybe we will have classes together."

Ash handed over her schedule and let Kate look at it.

"Awesome, we pretty much have every class together," Kate smiled and handed Ash's schedule back to her.

Ash smiled back and stowed away the schedule and school map in her backpack. "So what are public schools like? I've never really been a part of a school system. My parents moved around a lot at."

"If you have any sense, you'll know exactly what groups to stay away from. And as long as you stick with me, you'll survive alright." This girl was full of smiles.

Kate took her by the arm and dragged her through the hallways to their first classroom.

Ash had no idea how Kate managed to make it through the maze of hallways. First, they had to stop by the music room since Kate had to put her instrument away. Then they wound their way through the school till they walked through the door to their first classroom. Kate proceeded to take Ash to the back of the classroom. Kate sat her down and then sat across from her.

"So what class is this?" Ash asked.

"I believe it's history," Kate responded while she looked around the room. "It's sad, I recognize almost no one."

"Well, if it helps, I'm still wondering how we managed to go from the bus to here," Ash said, attempting to make a joke.

Kate chuckled. "You'll be able to find your way around within the first couple of weeks of the school year. All humans find a way to adapt to their surroundings."

"That's understandable."

Kate gave her a relaxed smile. "You just gotta go with the flow, ya know?"

They looked at each other for a moment. Kate smiled and Ash grinned. Maybe friends weren't that hard to make.

"I like you." Kate said suddenly, "Finally someone who understands my sense of humor."

Ash laughed and reached into her backpack to grab the cell phone that A'ilarin had given to her so she could check on Mer throughout the day. She sent a quick text asking how he was doing and then set the device on silent. She then got out a notebook and a pencil.

Just as the last bell rang, Jason walked through the door and Kate flagged him down. He came over to their table and sat down. His headphones were looped around his neck and music was still blasting from them, this time with a female singer.

"Jase, turn your music off. You'll make everyone else go deaf along with you." Kate said, tugging on the wire.

"Well good morning to you too, Kate." He said sarcastically, but he turned off his music device and wrapped the headphones up.

"Yes, what a lovely morning it is for this fine first day of school." She replied just as sarcastic.

Jason then turned his attention to Ash. "And who might you be?" He asked with a grin. "Don't tell me you're stuck with her for the whole day.

"Hey! Like I'm really that bad. Her name is Ash and she just moved here." Kate said.

"Short for Ashley?" Jason asked picking up on the nickname.

"Yeah," Ash said as she began to doodle in her notebook.

Jason put his arms on the table and leaned forward slightly on his elbows. "Where did you move from?"

Just then the teacher walked into the room and started to introduce himself and the course to the students in the room. Ash was basically saved from having to stumble over a response that she didn't have. She never thought to have a place in mind; she couldn't even remember the place she used to live. Not that anyone lived there anymore.

The class was definitely about history, which A'ilarin had taken great care to teach to Ash unbiased. They had this teacher, who's talking made it clear that he was on the Governments' side. Thankfully the curriculum called for the antebellum period for the first semester, and the war and post war second semester. Ash was slightly curious to know how the rest of the world thought about the Riders. The only problem for Ash was that she had to watch what she said so that she would not be mistaken as a sympathizer, or worse, an actual Rider. She could not risk exposing herself by giving her opinion. For now, she was content to breeze through the class without saying a word.

Kate chatted easily with both her and Jason. She even dared to ask the teacher if they would analyze the Riders story.

The teacher paused but smiled none the less at Kate's question. "You're Kate Storm, correct?" He asked.

"Yes, sir."

"I've heard about you. Your previous teacher told me how that was the one subject you wanted to learn about all the time. You continuously bugged her about."

"Your point, sir?" Kate asked, predicting what kind of response she was going to get.

"Maybe at the end of the year when we have covered everything else in the curriculum." He answered.

Kate smiled warmly and beamed when she turned back to Jason and Ash, looking triumphant over the small win.

At first, the question had sent Ash into a panic, thinking that the teacher would send the three of them to be searched and interrogated for even mentioning the Riders. But when he responded easily to Kate's question, she relaxed a little bit but kept her guard up through the rest of class so there could not be another slip-up. She didn't know whether or not the Governments had ever given up looking for the Riders. Granted that they lived in a secluded area that was covered in forest and in the foothills of a long mountain chain, the Governments couldn't simply march their armies through the trees to mount a search.

Ash settled in for the remainder of the period and pretty much tuned the teacher out, choosing to doodle in her notebook for the time being. The class was simply going over the ground rules for the year, what was expected and tolerated. Pretty boring stuff.

At the end of the class, Kate stole her schedule again along with Jason's, comparing the two.

"Okay, it looks like you'll be with Jason for the next two classes. By lunch, I'll meet the two of you in the north side of the cafeteria. Sound like a plan?" Kate strategized.

"Sure," Ash responded.

Kate gave them back their respective schedules and bustled down the hallway, soon disappearing in the masses of people.

Jason and Ash looked at each other and grinned at Kate's productiveness. Jason then looped an arm around her shoulders and said, "Well, we best be going or we'll be late."

Ash shrugged off the arm and gestured for him to lead the way. He led her through the hallways, which was easier to manage than being dragged around by Kate.

"Okay, so what class are we going to now?" Ash asked her guide.

"I dunno. It's a new room for me too. I only know where its general location is." He replied.

He led her through the labyrinth just like Kate did. Turning left or right at every junction, he sometimes followed the crowd or veered into the middle of the hallway where people were coming at them. The whole time Jason kept a hand on her arm or held her hand when they were forced to single file down a staircase. They didn't talk, but Ash was fine with that. No one called out to Jason, they just let him slide by in the crowd; if they knew him, they didn't say anything.

Eventually, they got to their classroom. It turned out to be a foreign language. A first-year course. Jason walked her to the door and left her with instructions to save him two seats.

"Why?" She had asked.

"Because me and my girlfriend will sit with you once I find her." He responded and walked off into the crowd of people.

When he was swallowed up by the crowd, Ash suddenly felt disconnected. She stood there watching the hallway until someone bumped into her. She shook herself, realizing that she had been there looking like an idiot. Ash stepped into the room, chiding herself for stupidly standing there. She saw three seats were open and secured them. She sat in the very corner taking in everything. Everyone knew, at least, one other person in the room. No one made eye contact with her and no one came over to introduce themselves either. The teacher even knew a couple of students, and she was making small talk with them as she set up the projector for the first lesson.

Jason and his girlfriend walked through the door just as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the second block. Ash figured that Jason must have the bell timing down to a science so he wouldn't be counted late. The strange things public schools end up teaching students outside of class.

He saw her in the corner and came over to her as she was looking in her backpack.

"Hey, Ash," he said starting a series of introductions. "This is Amie, my girlfriend," Jason smiled encouragingly to Amie, willing her to be nice.

Ash looked up from her bag and looked at Amie. She was a little bit on the bigger side, making Jason seem even skinnier. She seemed friendly enough when she smiled, but never returned Ash's polite greeting.

 _Kate was right. She really isn't all that nice._ Ash thought to herself as they sat down in the two seats in front of her. She heard Jason whisper to Amie: "Give her a chance." Amie smiled and shook her head, then focused on the teacher. Jason glanced back at Ash and smiled apologetically at her for his girlfriend's behavior. Ash shrugged it off. She wasn't one to judge someone who hadn't really gotten the chance to know her, not that anyone would ever get the chance to.

Ash pulled her phone out and checked her messages, making sure the teacher could not see what she was doing, and read the text from A'ilarin. It gave her a small smile to know that Mer was hoping the best for her and still worrying about her as well.

She responded, saying that she was fine and hanging in there for the most part. From there, she sat in the back of the room thinking about her dragon back home.

"Ash . . . Ash!"

"What?" She was jolted awake by Jason, who looked ready to go.

"Is class over?" She asked as she gathered her things and all the papers put on her desk.

"It is. Maybe next time you'll stay awake to know that." Amie stood at the door. "Jason, I'm leaving. See you after school." She left.

Jason relaxed, his shoulders sloping down much farther than where they had been. He had been so tensed that his nails had also dug into his palms. Ash quickly gathered her things and was standing beside him ready to go, waiting till he noticed that she was ready.

"Sorry about Amie and all." He said quietly. He sighed and walked towards the door.

Ash followed. She was worried about this boy. He did seem distant all the time, but he honestly felt connected to everything the same time. Ash thought about taking a quick look in his mind to see what was making him sad all of the sudden, but decided against it; it was not her business to know that.

"It's fine. I've dealt with people like her before." She replied instead.

"How? Weren't you home-schooled this whole time?" He asked in return. "The people like her only come out this way by middle school at the earliest."

"Before my parents started to move around a lot, I was in kindergarten. The kids there didn't talk to me at all. I was ignored by everyone. Even the teachers." Ash explained grimly. "I was the class ghost, so to speak." She looked at the pictures hanging on the walls as they walked through the hallways.

She glanced at Jason who was still looking at her even though she was done talking. Ash then looked down at the floor under their feet avoiding his eyes.

Jason winced and looked at the floor with her. They were walking to lunch and everyone was either there already or in class. They weren't in that much of a hurry anyways.

"But why are you back in public schooling if you've been home-schooled all this time before?" Jason asked finally.

Ash thought a moment, trying to decide what to tell this boy who was nice enough to care a little about her. "Well, it's because they could only teach me to the limit of what they knew, I was taught all the way up to BC Calculus. I know pretty much everything there is to know about history. I can write a decent enough paper for English. And I know enough chemistry and physics to be able to know to get by. They threw me back in public schooling for social skills, I guess."

"So why are you taking a language? Your parents had to have known a second language." It was common for everyone to know a second language after the Governments took power . It was insisted upon and incorporated into every curriculum around the country.

"That's the thing… They never left this country therefore, they never had to use their second language. So instead of teaching me something poorly, they send me to school." Little did he know, but Ash could already speak several other languages although they were dead ones.

Jason laughed. "Well, that explains why you're in a college-level history course with Kate and a first-year foreign language course with me."

Ash grinned. "But you're in the history class with me and Kate. So you can't be all that bad." She pointed out.

By now they could hear the roar of the cafeteria. Ash was not all that hungry; A'ilarin's habit of only eating twice a day kept her from getting any food. Apparently Jason was not hungry either. They walked into the cafeteria and Jason instantly tensed up again. Amie walked up, took him by the arm and took him away to sit at a table full of other couples. There had been a look of surprise on his face when he saw her. Apparently she forgot to mention they had the same lunch together. Over her shoulder, Amie gave Ash a smile that looked more like a snarl; giving her the message to stay away. This left Ash standing alone. She found a table by herself and sat down. She didn't know where Kate was, and she didn't care to know what was happening at Jason's table with Amie.

She ended up pulling out her papers from the previous class and went over them. All of it seemed fairly straightforward. "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" "How are you?" Clearly a beginning course. She was telling the truth about not knowing a foreign language. A'ilarin forced her to learn fairly old languages first before reading some of the other texts in the house, one of which were written in a language that was the parent to English, German, and Dutch. All three were about the same age, but German was more structured than English or Dutch. Ash guessed that was the reason why A'ilarin put her in a first-year German class as compared to the Latin-based languages of French and Spanish.

Ash wrote out her answers down on the page with all the questions listed, in English and German. Pretty much after that, she sat in the lunch room watching everyone. Everyone was carefree and enjoying being with their friends. There was the group that sulked in the corner of the cafeteria, sort of what she was doing now. Kate still hadn't shown up. Maybe she mixed up the lunches they had together. Ash saw that her table had remained empty, where all the others had filled up to the maximum. No one sat with her. Did she really seem that odd to people that she caused them to not want to sit with her?

It was not long after that that thought had crossed her mind when Ash was confronted by a group of girls.

"You're at our table." The head of the group said.

She was full of the "bad attitude", that much anyone could tell. She was dressed in the designer brand clothes that you would see on the TV; she had an athletic body, probably because she was on the sports team or a cheerleader.

Ash sighed and picked up her things. "Okay, I'll move." She said.

One of the girls, who clearly thought that her response was snarky, came up and knocked her phone out of her hand before she could even put it in her pocket.

Ash looked at the girl, her eyes sparking a little. "Was that really necessary? I was leaving. No need for you to try to break my stuff."

Her stormy eyes must have sparked more than she intended because the girl stepped back, muttering "freak" underneath her breath.

Ash picked up her phone and put it in her pocket. She shouldered her backpack and then tried to walk past them, but she was shoved back. Some of the girls sat down, ready to watch the show that was about to begin.

"You're not going anywhere till you learn some respect, freak." The girl in charge said, pushing Ash's shoulder, and forcing her back further.

Ash was ready to hit the girl. This was ridiculous. She took a deep breath, held it, and let it go in order to keep herself from doing something that would get her in trouble.

"So, how should we teach this freak a lesson?" The girls asked the group behind her.

"By letting her go. I haven't done anything to you to deserve being treated this way." Ash said, staring the girl down.

Which did not faze her. "Oh, you want to be that way?" She sneered and pushed Ash up against the wall, holding her there by her shoulders.

 _Don't do anything rash. Don't do anything rash._ She thought to herself, chanting it over and over again in her head.

"Let me go." She said through gritted teeth.

"Now why should I do that? You made me mad. I think that you need a warning." Her breath smelled of her food from lunch, not at all pleasant.

"Then let her go, Maddie" Someone said from behind the girl.

Ash was let go and the leader of the group turned around to face the speaker. It was Jason. His normally warm brown eyes were sparking with anger, in the same way, Ash's did when she gets angry.

"Aw, Jason's here to save his new adventure. How cute." The girl, Maddie, said, teasing Jason in the meanest way she probably knew how. She turned back to Ash and said, "You're getting off this time. But only this once."

The girl grabbed Ash's backpack strap and slung her towards Jason, making her stumble slightly.

"Glad to hear it. I'll make sure you have a reason to throw me up against a wall next time." Ash said as she righted herself.

Jason grabbed her arm and led her away from the table and the group of girls. His grip was not hard, but he did not let go. He led her all the way out of the cafeteria and to the library, which was not far from the lunch room because from what Ash could tell, many students ate there as well.

"Jason, you can let go of me now, I'm not going to go back and start another fight with them." Ash snapped, letting her anger voice itself.

Jason looked down at his hand and her arm, and let go slowly. "Sorry," he muttered.

He sounded a thousand years away. Ash was glad that he came to her rescue, but there was something different about his eyes, she realized. They were brown, yes, but there was something else…

"Ash? Are you okay?"

She jumped, realizing that she had fallen into a pool of her own thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just upset that I was bullied for minding my own business." She said, sounding distant herself.

"Come on, let's go sit down. No one should bother you here." He said.

He led her to a table in the back, amidst all the books. They sat down across from each other.

"Isn't Amie going to get mad that you're here with me and not back there with her?" Ash asked after they got settled.

"I could care less right now about what she thinks." He said as he crossed his arm and sat back in his chair.

Ash stared at him. His eyes were still odd; like they were flickering. That could not be right; eyes do not flicker like they're on fire. . .

"Are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I'll be fine as soon as I calm down." He said briskly.

"What made you mad? The group of girls? Or Amie?"

"The girls were a part of it, Amie wasn't much help, though."

"Well, um, thanks for helping me get away from those girls. Sorry about Amie though."

Jason had leaned forward so that his arms were on the table. Ash reached out and patted his arm briefly to show her gratitude.

He watched her as she took her hand away. "Why do you care so much? After what you've experienced, why would care about other people's problems?"

Ash shrugged, "I don't know, but it feels like the right thing to do." She sighed and looked at her friend; his eyes were back to normal. "I also don't want anyone else to go through what I did, or to feel the way I did. No one should ever feel that alone."

Jason nodded and sighed himself. He looked her in the eye and their gazes locked with each other. Ash hoped hers had lightened a little bit with her change of mood. She could not risk anyone knowing what and who she really is. As if something was looking for that side of her, a presence tried to force its way into her mind. She instantly slammed her barriers up, just as quickly as the presence receded away from her.

 _Odd,_ she thought. _I'll have to ask A'ilarin about that._

 _Odd indeed,_ Mer said. _Since your barriers went up so quickly, mine did as well. It cut me off from Nyetia._

 _I'm sorry, but I couldn't risk anyone or anything finding out about us._ She apologized.

She noticed Jason looking at her strangely. _I'll make sure to keep you posted for the rest of the day. I'll be extra careful._

 _Make sure that you do. I don't trust the one you are sitting with, even if he came to your rescue._

 _I'll keep that in mind, Mer. Get back to your lesson._

Mer rumbled and left. Ash let out a long breath, not realizing that she had held it.

"Is everything okay? You tuned out everything for a few minutes." Jason said, worried.

"Sorry, I tend to get lost in my thoughts every once and a while." She apologized, looking over at the bookshelves that surrounded them.

"It's fine. Just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to have a mental breakdown." He said, chuckling a little bit.

Ash grinned and shook her head. She was wary of Jason, not on purpose. It was more of the fact that some things were not adding up with him. His eyes shouldn't flicker. Not even Rider's eyes flicker. They will instantly get lighter or darker, but as far as she could tell, hers were the only ones that tended to spark. And another thing: he seemed to know that she had put barriers up around her mind and was talking to Mercury.

"Are you wondering what made me come over just at the right moment?" Jason asked, shaking her out of her thoughts. "And how the head cheerleader knew me?"

"Actually, yes, I am." She lied smoothly.

Whether he picked up on the lie or not, she couldn't tell, because he carried on talking about how Amie was talking about her.

"What did she say about me?" Ash asked, not really caring about the answer, it was more of a ploy to keep him talking.

"The first thing you need to know about Amie is that she is paranoid that she will lose me. So naturally for her, any girl that is friendly towards me is labeled an enemy." Jason explained. "I had dated the head cheerleader last year. I had caught her cheating on me and we broke up. She then spread the rumor that I was the one cheating on her. Amie picked me up and put me back together again. Now, though, she's become this overbearing person afraid of losing me and everything else now that her 'project' is done."

"Project?" Ash asked, confused about the connotation of the word.

"Basically, Amie made me a project. Her goal was to make me fall in love with her since she picked me up when I was down. I was in love with her for a while, but now . . . it's like I don't feel anything towards her now. She just aggravates me all the time." He clenched his hands, grabbing the sleeves of his burnt orange shirt.

Ash could tell that he was finally admitting to the fact that he didn't like his girlfriend anymore. To her no less. And he had just met her today. Why was he telling her something that was so personal to begin with? She did not know what to say to console him. His hair had fallen down into his eyes, and he was looking down at the table.

"I'm sure everything will work out. Even though I'm not a relationship expert by any means, but I have faith that you'll figure things out." She said. She did not reach out to touch him again, fearing that she'll be forced to throw her barriers up again.

He sighed. "Are you sure?" He asked, not looking up from the table.

"Positive. Maybe you'll figure things out with Amie, maybe not. Either way, things will work themselves out so that you'll be happy in the end." She still did not reach out to him, but she leaned forward, closer to him.

He looked up and smiled at her. "The school year shouldn't be too bad with you around to give advice." He said with a grin.

She smiled a little and thought to herself, _Yeah if I even make it through the school year._

Jason looked at the clock. "We better head to our next class." He got up and grabbed his bag from the floor.

Ash stood and grabbed hers and started to walk out of the bookshelves and to the front of the library. Jason walked up with her and led her to their next class.

The rest if the day was uneventful. Ash did not have to suddenly block her mind to everything and she was not left alone with Jason anymore, despite having one more class with just knowing him. Having the other students around made it easier. She was able to relax a little bit more around Kate. As far as Ash could tell, Kate was pretty much as normal as people come. There were no weird moments with Kate around, and neither Ash nor Jason had to say much to each other for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **AN: Yay! First Day of school done. Pardon the school drama, lunch would have been pretty boring without it. Hope you guys enjoyed!**

 **P.S. This won't be a high school AU thing, it's just an element to the story.**

 **Please R &R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 5

After a week or so of school, Ash was one the bus ride home. Ash swore that every day felt the same to her, and keeping track of the number of days had become more of a chore than actually going to school. She surprised herself by being able to make it to the first weekend before losing her sanity. Her friends Jason and Kate were great, but sitting in a classroom was causing her to go stir crazy. That first weekend, she had found herself doing her homework where ever she could without sitting at her desk. She was pretty sure that her teachers thought she lived in the dirt since half of her homework was covered in it when she handed it the next time she had school. Sorry for enjoying the weather.

By now, Kate had already gotten off and Jason was the next stop. Ash focused on the window as he walked by. He did not stop by her seat, but she had the sneaking suspicion that he knew that she was avoiding him. She was, to some degree. She just could not afford to have him get too close and have her slip up and reveal something that could jeopardize her identity and A'ilarin's. There was just too much risk in it if she kept getting closer and closer to Jason. Or even Kate for that matter. But Kate just talked and talked, Ash almost didn't have to participate half the time for her to even carry a conversation with Kate. Ash shook her head and turned to her excitement towards seeing Mer. She had missed being able to talk to him all day. Her mental range hadn't improved enough to be able to reach home from the school without activating their bond and forcing it to bring them together. Ash never really enjoyed doing that. It was cheating on her skills as a Rider and it was only something that she discovered that she could do by accident. She had figured it out when she was younger and A'ilarin had told her that she could activate her bond in that way whenever she felt that she was in danger. And that she should never actively rely on it. So all in all, Ash remained lonely since she couldn't talk with her best friend more the better part of five days out of the week.

The bus continued to drive outside of town and into the more rural parts of the area. A'ilarin chose to live out here so they could hide two dragons. The area was secluded enough that the dragons could take off and land without being spotted by their "neighbors", who lived miles away. The vehicle stopped and she got off. She sprinted up the driveway and ran all the way to the house to dump her backpack in the kitchen and burst through the back door into the paddock.

She was greeted with no one in the paddock or the stables. Things were not right. The horses in the stable were still there, but they were skittish and scared. She closed her eyes and branched out with her mind. She found Nyetia, she was at the edge of the property and her range. A'ilarin was not with her, nor was Mer. It was a shock to find that A'ilarin was not with her own dragon. Or even that Mer was out by himself…

Ash went to the stable and saddled one of the calmer horses. She led the animal out of the stable and tied it to one on the fence posts of the paddock. She then went to one of the weapon sheds and grabbed two semi-automatic pistols, two extra clips for both guns, and a dagger for each boot. The daggers she strapped to her ankles, underneath her pant legs. Her pistols went on her hips, and the clips in her back pockets. Ash untied the horse and jumped into the saddle and whirled it around to face the woods. She kicked it into a gallop and pointed it down the path that would take her the closest to Nyetia.

As she rode, Ash called out to her mentor's dragon. _Nyetia! What's wrong? Where's A'ilarin and Mer?_

The purple dragon did not respond. Ash spurred her horse faster toward where the dragon was in the forest. There was still no sign from Mer's and A'ilarin's minds being close by.

 _Please be okay. Please be okay._ Ash repeated to herself.

About a hundred yards out from the clearing where Nyetia lay, Ash reined her horse in and dismounted. She crept up to the clearing, keeping silent the whole time. She held pistol ready and checked her surroundings every time she heard a noise that was out of place in the forest. As she got closer to the clearing, Ash noticed that Nyetia was lying down and breathing heavily. She checked her surroundings one last time before running into the clearing.

"Nyetia! Nyetia!" Ash shook the dragon's head trying to wake her. Nyetia never responded.

She did not see any external injuries, but the dragon's wings were spread out like she had a crashed landed into the clearing. She was lucky that they were not broken. Ash had no choice but to try to push herself into Nyetia's mind to find out what was wrong. She closed her eyes and placed both hands on the dragon's head. Her mind pushed through the barriers and she soon found herself in Nyetia's mind. She was alert but she was blocked from being able to speak to Ash or anyone else for that matter. Ash was surprised that she had gotten into the dragon's mind so easily, but it baffled her that the century-old dragon was mentally imprisoned.

 _Nyetia?_ She said softly.

The dragon's mind whirled to focus on her. She felt the dragon's eyes open and look at her as well.

 _It's okay, big girl. It's just me, Ashley._ She remained gentle with her voice so that the large dragon would not be caused to move violently. _Can you show me something?_ She asked. _Can you show me what's wrong?_

The dragon hummed gently. Her mind strained against what was keeping her from communicating with Ash more easily. Ash followed and looked over what was blocking Nyetia's mind. It was a stronger mental barrier than what the dragon had over her whole mind.

Ash pushed against it, feeling how thick it was. It was so strong that it would take both her own mental strength and Nyetia's to break through it.

 _Nyetia, we have to work together in order to break through this thing, okay?_ She told the dragon.

The dragon rumbled in response and started to scratch at the barrier. Ash began to work chunks out of it as well. It was slow work, but both were determined to tear it down so they could find Mer and A'ilarin. When they had worked it down enough, the barrier burst apart under the pressure of both their minds. As soon as it was down, Ash was forced back into her mind. She had an excruciating headache from being in the dragon's mind for so long, but, either way, she looked at the situation, the headache was worth the reward.

Nyetia wrapped her in a shield of wings and nuzzled her gently, her way of saying thank you. Her labored breathing had become easier. Ash was glad the dragon was back to normal.

"What happened to you? To Mer? To A'ilarin?" She asked aloud, too weak to try to speak with her mind at the moment.

 _That I don't know, my child. I was flying the border and then the next thing I remember is you calling me and I wasn't able to respond._ Nyetia answered, slightly distracted. She was searching for A'ilarin and Mer with a wider range than Ash could even manage at the moment.

Ash nodded, massaging her temples. "You don't remember anything else?"

 _No . . . but I found them. Climb, we have to fly now!_ Nyetia grabbed Ash's arm in her mouth and threw her over her shoulder. The dragon almost took Ash's arm off to put her on her back, even though she was careful to not use her teeth in the maneuver. Without waiting for Ash to settle onto the dragon's back, they were in the air.

 _Where are they?_ She asked. Her mind had recovered enough to speak with Nyetia's.

 _At the edge of the woods where I could barely detect them from where we were._ The dragon explained.

Ash had no response so she concentrated on hanging on to Nyetia. The dragon flew low and fast over the trees. There was no time to climb high enough to pretend to be a bird. They headed towards the sun as they moved. It had taken roughly thirty minutes to free Nyetia's mind, but Ash's mind was telling her it was hours. Time always felt weird after an activity last that, A'ilarin had made sure Ash was aware of it. The hard way most of the time. But now was not the time for those stories. Nyetia dropped into a clearing.

 _Go. I will follow behind as soon as you have a large enough lead._ Nyetia said as Ash slid down her shoulder.

Ash drew a pistol and the dagger from her ankle.

 _Which direction are they in?_ She asked silently as she readied the pistol quickly.

 _Straight ahead._ _For about a hundred yards. Be careful. There is another dragon near._

 _Awesome. Either there's another Rider here or one of the few remaining wild dragons that are around. It probably would have attacked now, though, instead of waiting. A Rider's dragon would wait until ordered…_

 _Let's hope for the best,_ Nyetia growled.

Ash started to creep through the woods. She could feel Mer's mind, finally. Her range had fallen considerably from merging with Nyetia's in order to free her. In the woods, it had fallen dark with the beginning of the setting of the sun. She could still see for the most part because as it got darker, the fog crept into the woods. Ash continued to sneak closer to the spot where Nyetia had said Mer and A'ilarin would be. The closer she got the clearer it became that she and Nyetia were not the only ones closing on the clearing up ahead.

Her pistol held out in front of her, Ash came to the clearing. Nyetia was circling overhead waiting for the go ahead to land. Ash remained in the shadow of the trees around her and examined the clearing. Mer was pacing back and forth, snarling. Behind him was A'ilarin, lying face down on the ground. The other presence that was looking for the clearing as well was father away and Ash and Nyetia had the time to grab A'ilarin and Mer and leave, as long as Mer was not in the same mental state as Nyetia was.

Ash took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing. Mer whirled and snapped towards her.

 _Mercury, it's me._ She said, using the same technique on him as she had with Nyetia.

Mer relaxed and let her come closer. _I am glad to see you. A'ilarin won't wake up. Not even after you helped Nyetia._

"I'll see what I can do when we get back to the house. I can't do anything here." Ash said as she knelt down next A'ilarin.

Fortunately, A'ilarin was still breathing but her leg was badly broken. She could not be moved till her leg was set. Ash cursed herself for leaving the horse behind. In every saddle pack, there was a first-aid kit.

"A'ilarin? Can you hear me?" She asked, gently shaking her shoulder.

Her mentor moaned. Mercury snarled at something in the woods. Nyetia roared from the sky, landing heavily, facing the same direction as Mer.

Ash stayed kneeling by A'ilarin but swiveled so that she was aiming in the same direction as the two dragons.

"You would think that with someone with as much magic as you to be able to heal her. After all, you are in control of two dragons." A voice said from the woods. It sounded oddly familiar.

Nyetia swung around to face the opposite direction. Ash pulled out her other pistol, dropping the dagger in the process. She pointed it towards where Nyetia was facing.

She heard another dragon rumble from the woods. It sounded bigger than Mer, who was even starting to outgrow Nyetia.

"What do you want?" She called to the woods, looking back and forth between the two ends of the clearing.

Another mind tried to break into hers and she threw up her barriers just fast enough to block out the presence. Mer added to her barriers with his. A'ilarin had hers up the whole time, probably a precaution of hers when she was injured. Nyetia started growling loud enough that it began to dwarf the unknown dragon's noise.

"Leave." She said through gritted teeth. "Why endanger people like yourself?"

The voice laughed. "Because I believe that you are weak to hide." It said, and then it was gone along with its dragon.

Ash sighed with relief. The threat of a fight was gone. She turned back to A'ilarin. She was sitting up now, but her leg was still badly broken.

"When did you get here?" Her mentor asked, her voice cracking with pain.

"Just in time. Mer would have been overwhelmed by that Rider and their dragon." Ash said holstering both pistols and picking up the dagger she had dropped. "But my question is why they targeted all of you. Nyetia was overcome and disabled. Your leg is broken and Mer was about to be taken out along with Nyetia."

A'ilarin was not even paying attention. Ash watched as A'ilarin whispered a different language and her leg was slowly straightening itself. Ash watched in amazement as her teacher stood up a few minutes later.

"H-how did y-you do that?" She asked, so shocked that she stuttered.

"Old trick that I've manage to pull whenever I'm seriously injured. I won't be able to do it again in five years or more, granted, but it'll be that long before I break another bone." She dusted off her pants and went over to Mer, putting a hand on him, thanking him.

Ash sat there, dumbstruck, for a moment before she got up and went to go examine where the dragon had been. The claw marks were deep but only a half foot bigger than Mer's, which translated into the dragon being about five feet longer than Mer from nose to tail, and about three years older than Mer.

"Either he got his dragon even younger than me, or he's not as old as he says he is." She muttered to herself, continuing to examine the gashes on the ground.

"What was that?" A'ilarin had crept up on her as she was thinking about who the mystery Rider was.

"Other than having a general idea of who this Rider is, it was nothing." She answered. She stood up and wiped the dirt off of her hands.

A'ilarin raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "And?"

Ash faced her teacher and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I'm not exactly sure who he is, but I have a good guess."

* * *

 **AN: And there's a lame attempt at a cliffhanger... I hope you enjoyed it either way.**

 **So the holidays are right around the corner, and I will be spending time with family as well as going through a back surgery just before Christmas (I know, merry Christmas to me..) so I don't know when I will be able to update next, not that there was a set update schedule anyways..**

 **I hope you guys have a great holiday season, with whatever you celebrate!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thank you for reading. Even though you guys don't review or anything (which you totally should, by the way, constructive criticism is always nice you know..) I can see the views, and it does make me happy that people are taking the time (I hope) to read my story all the way through. I know it doesn't really follow anything that the Inheritance Cycle set out since I only liked the idea of dragon riders and magic. The pacing in those stories was much slower than I think I can actually write, and if I try that, I fear that I might bore the readers and no one wants that.**

 **Anyways, here's Ch 6! It's a little short compared to some of the other chapters, but I'm comfortable where it is. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 6

"Enlighten us." A'ilarin's was a mask of seriousness. Mer and Nyetia focused on her as well.

"I will tell all of you when we get back to the house. Plus, I need to grab the horse I used to get to Nyetia." Ash stalled. She was working out what she wanted to tell all of them. She could not be sure that the Rider had really left, her range was still depleted and she did not want to take the risk of him coming back either.

A'ilarin nodded in agreement. "Fair enough. I will ride Mercury back to the house then." She started to walk over to him. "Be quick. I do not trust these woods anymore." She said over her shoulder. She climbed up onto Mer and he took off without even a last look at her. He was probably upset that she had not shared her thoughts with him.

She sighed and walked over to Nyetia. _Why do I feel like everything is going to change a lot?_ She asked the dragon.

 _Do not worry about it, little one. Your head cannot handle the worrying right now. Think about it when we get back to the house._ She settled down on the ground to let Ash climb up her shoulder on her own instead of picking her up like last time.

 _If you're right about one thing, that would be it, Nyetia._

Nyetia did not fly as fast as she did when Mer and A'ilarin were missing. She took a leisurely pace so that Ash would not have to work so hard to stay on. Ash relaxed and enjoyed the ride. It took about ten minutes to get to the previous clearing since there was no real rush to get anything done for the moment. When they landed, Nyetia landed lightly and crouched down to the ground to let Ash off.

 _I'll see you at the house. The horse is still where you left him. I have to check on A'ilarin._ The purple dragon nuzzled Ash quickly and then flew off to the house.

Ash was kind of glad that she was alone. Her headache had gotten worse, but without having to speak to dragons, it did not grow as fast. Talking aloud did not bother her, but having to speak mind to mind with a dragon was a difficult thing to accomplish after what she had done today. Her mind was just fried.

She went to the middle of the clearing and stood there for a moment. There were a couple of branches strewn about, marking the path Nyetia had taken when she had fallen from the sky. The dragon did not seem any worse for wear from her landing, but Ash knew that the amethyst dragon had a few bruised scales from a fall like that. She needed to check Mercury over, he had taken a fall as well. Whistling for the horse, Ash pondered what she was going to say to A'ilarin when she got back. Sure she had an idea about who they were but she had no proof. What were the chances that another Rider was in the area? Ash shook her head and climbed into the saddle when the horse arrived. As she rode, Ash could think of the one person who would possibly be that marauder who cornered her, Nyetia, A'ilarin, and Mer. It was terrifying to think that they had been overpowered by one person and their dragon. Ash had had no idea what to do, she was merely acting out with poor instincts and pointed her gun at anything that made an unusual noise. If that Rider had actually come out... Ash shook her head to rid herself of the thought. She didn't need to fill her heads with hypotheticals where she had taken another Rider's life. If it weren't for that Rider and his dragon, this mess would not exist. She didn't wish the Rider had not spoken to them but had come to them peacefully. Shouldn't they be banning together to try to rebuild the Corps? Not attacking each other like they had not even twenty minutes ago? It was like she thought, this was a mess.

Ash nudged the horse into a trot and arrived at the house ten minutes later.

Nyetia was around the corner of the house, speaking with A'ilarin. Mer was in his stall, sulking. Ash dismounted and led the horse into the stable. Once it was in its stall, she removed its bridle and saddle and put them where they belonged in the barn. She then picked up her grooming kit and began the process of taking care of the horse. When she did, she noticed how threadbare her jeans were. That is what she got for riding a dragon without a saddle or proper riding pants. She made quick work of grooming the horse since the he hadn't been run into the ground trying to keep up with a dragon. The whole time Mer did not speak to her.

 _Did I do something to upset you, Mercury?_ She asked softly.

The silver dragon growled from his stall on the other side of the barn.

 _Why are you being like this? I'm sorry for whatever I did wrong. I don't know even know what I did, to be honest. I didn't know where you were, but I was able to find Nyetia and then we found you. I found her first, so I helped her first. It was only after I was able to communicate with her that we were able to figure out where the two of you were. I'm sorry for not going straight to you first, I just didn't know where you were…_ She finished grooming the horse and threw her brushes onto the table outside of the stall. Then she walked out of the stable, not expecting a response from her dragon. Mer poked his head out of his stall and watched her go. He did not know what to say; he did not need the apology… he was the one who needed to apologize to her. But he did not go after her; he knew enough that if he tried to speak to her now, the issue would only get worse. He really had no reason to be upset with her, but he was unlawfully jealous that Ash had gone to Nyetia first instead of finding him. Even though he understood that he had been outside of her ability to find him, it still stung the dragon to know that his Rider had gone to another dragon instead of her own.

Mer had been right to leave her alone. When A'ilarin tried to speak to her about what she knew, Ash lost her temper and went to her room claiming a bad headache. Once Ash was in her room, she went immediately to bed, refusing to speak another word till her headache was gone.

* * *

 **AN: Haha, thought you were done with my ramblings, weren't you? Nah, I'm joking, there's not much more to say, but I do have a couple shout outs.**

 **I wanted to say thank you to** **Maevys** **and** **OrangeGalen** **for the Fav/Follow! It does mean a lot that you found my story to be good enough for you to do that.**

 **Please R &R! (I mean it, I wanna know what you guys think!)**

 **P.S. Ch 7 is almost finished being edited and stuffs, so that should be up either later tonight or early tomorrow. See ya until then!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So here's chapter 7! Woo! Please enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7

The next morning, Ash had to force herself to go to school. Her head still hurt but that was not enough to stay home. She did not sit with Jason or Kate on the bus, but instead sat up towards the front.

After they were dropped off at the school, she waited for Kate at the door and then walked with her to the school. She explained that she had a headache and did not feel like talking much. Kate was fine with it. For the rest of the day, Ash and Kate had the same classes and they had lunch together. Jason's schedule did not line up anywhere, which was not a big deal to Ash, but Kate seemed kind of down about it. From there, the day went as normally as a school day went. Ash went through the motions and she did not necessarily need to pay attention to class or ask questions, but she did not fall asleep, though. There were moments where Kate suggested that she should go home but each time she refused, saying that if she did call home, her parents would not be able to get her. After that, their day crawled by.

Sooner or later, the day was finally over and they were back on the bus to go home. Ash did not remember when Kate or Jason got off, she was barely able to get off at her stop. That was the final sign that told her that something was incredibly wrong. She managed to make her way into the woods, and then she collapsed on the driveway.

 _Mer, I need help…_

 _I'll be right there. Just hold on._ She was able to hear the worry in his voice as he launched himself into the air.

Within a minute, he was there next to her, helping her stand. He lay on the ground, allowing for her to climb up onto his back. Even then he had to help her more so that she was securely on his back.

 _How did you let it get this bad?_ He asked gently.

 _I don't know. This headache has just gotten worse and worse throughout the day._ Ash said quietly. _Don't fly, please…I won't be able to hold on._

 _Of course._

He turned and walked down the driveway towards the house. The woods were dense enough that Mercury could not be seen through the gap that acted as a road to the house. Ash was just able to make it to the house before she slid off of his back, unable to hold on. Then she struggled to her feet and made her way into the house. Mer overheard her tell where A'ilarin she was going to be and then she was leaning heavily on the doorway.

 _We need to go the clearing from last night._ She said slowly.

 _But that's not where you told A'ilarin we would be._ He said, confusion coloring his voice.

 _I know. She wouldn't let me go anywhere else in the woods if it weren't my meditating spot._ She explained as she made her way towards him, and climbed onto his back. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that she was going to lose another pair of pants today. She could barely function by herself, let alone try to put on the dragon's saddle.

 _Aren't you worried about the other Rider being there?_

 _I don't think so. Yesterday, he seemed to have left pretty quickly. They didn't want to take on two Riders with their dragons at the same time._

In order to get there, they had to fly. Mer managed to take away some of the pain, enough for her to be able to concentrate on flying. Once they were there, Ash slid down and walked slowly to the center of the clearing. She sat down cross-legged.

As she settled down to meditate Mer asked, _So, why did you want to come here, of all places?_

 _Because I'm hoping that whoever the Rider from last night was, will come out and talk to an unarmed Rider by themselves, besides their dragon._ She explained.

 _But you just said that you're sure he ran off last night. Why would he still be here after that?_

Ash sighed and let her head fall into her hands. _I know I said that he left. But I don't think that he left the area. I might be able to pinpoint where he is._

Mer grumbled, uncertain if her train of logic was even making sense. She was in so much pain that she had a hard time even keeping her head up. There was no way she could handle a potentially hostile Rider finding them out here.

 _I don't like this. We shouldn't be out here._ You _shouldn't be out here._ The quicksilver dragon muttered.

 _If it helps, I won't ever come out here alone. I was hoping this would also be a time for us to get over whatever has been going on between us. I know that we haven't been on the same page of late, and I want to fix that. I don't like this version of us, but somehow we need to figure out how to be ourselves with each other again._ She looked off into the distance at the end of the clearing. _I also don't want to ask Nyetia or A'ilarin to come out here either because I'm afraid that they wouldn't understand…_

 _You're right about them not understanding this. They would call this madness._ I'm _calling it mad._

 _But you're staying anyways._ She said with an eyebrow raised.

 _I'm only staying because I don't want to lose you again. I already feel that I've lost more of you than I can stand. I don't want to lose anymore._ The dragon replied indignantly as he lay down, circling her.

 _I'm glad that you are staying, though._ She smiled. _It means a lot to me. Especially after yesterday…_

The dragon huffed, smoke puffing out from his nostrils. _You did more than any of us expected you to._

Ash smiled a little. _Well, I guess now's the time to start. I'd like to be back at the house before midnight at least. I have no idea how long this is going to take._

 _Are you sure?_ Mer asked. _It could be too much._

 _Just lay it on me_. Ash gave him a wry smile _._ The dragon let go of the burden he had shouldered for her.

Ash was slammed with the pain he had been holding. She had been containing it with her mental barriers the whole day and they were about gone. Now she let them fall, allowing the pain to flow out of her. The pain was an enormous wave of black. It flowed over everything within the immediate area, causing some of the younger plants to die. Slowly a circle of dead grass surrounded them as Ash battled with the wave. She had no idea how she had been bottling up this for the whole day. When everything settled, Ash looked around. Everything within a three-foot radius had died, the grass brown and brittle, the saplings sagging, even the small animals there were too slow to run away were gone. Their lives snuffed out by the wave.

Ash covered her mouth as a sob escaped her, tears leaking down her cheeks. She had always been taught to preserve life where she can, and this was unnecessary. She had let this happen. Mer nuzzled her to his shoulder, trying to comfort her, but it was pointless. She had taken innocent lives because she was not able to control what had poured out of her a few moment before. Ash wrapped her arms around herself and another wave a pain caused her to convulse, leaving more death in its wake.

 _Ash, you have to do something…If this keeps up, this section of the forest will die._ Mercury rustled his wings as he watched the wave spread.

Ash wiped the tears from her face and nodded. Nothing could be done now, it already happened, it was in the past. She could look to the future and find a way to keep this from happening again. She had to. She could not live with herself if she continued to take lives without knowing. What could happen if this suddenly happened at school? There was no way she could forgive herself if she accidently took the lives of her classmates. It would not be fair to them for simply being near her when it happened.

The girl steeled her nerves and set to meditating, turning her focus inwards, searching for the source of this wave of death. Eventually, she found it within her core, where A'ilarin had told her true self was located. The blackness had its claws wrapped around it, slowly draining the life out of it. No wonder she felt like she was dying the whole day, she actually was, very slowly. Her core was shining in between the claws that were trying to smother it. It was a deep purple that sparked every few moments with lightening, her own personal storm. Ash rushed forward and started to rip the talons away. The lightning arced towards her giving her the strength she needed to rip away the claws. She slashed the last one away and found that the blackness had managed to burrow deep into her core. Taking a deep breath, Ash slowly reached out a hand to dive into the center of herself. She heard Mer growl in shock as her heartbeat stopped as she finally reached the tendril of black. She had a strong grip on it and she ripped it out, leaving her personal storm pure again. Her heart started again and for a few minutes, it was painful to have something moving within her chest once more. Mercury had stood up and circled her as she had dealt with her inner turmoil. She held a hand to her chest as she struggled to remember how to breathe again.

 _Ash? Ash!_ Mer lowered himself down in front of her, his hot breath enveloping her.

After what felt like an eternity for the girl, she was finally able to breathe normally once more with her heart beating strongly inside her chest. She took a slow breath and looked up at her dragon, and smiled weakly. She lifted a hand and placed it on his nose, gently rubbing his scales.

 _It's okay, Mer. I'm okay._ She said quietly.

 _No. No, you are not okay, Ash. You weren't breathing for five minutes. How are you still alive? You physically died in front of me. How are you still here? How am I still here?_ The dragon continued to ramble off questions until Ash gently rapped him on the nose to quiet him.

 _Mer, trust me when I say I am okay. I don't know what happened either, but I had to travel deep within myself to get rid of whatever was trying to kill me._ She said gently, rubbing his nose once more.

 _It was trying to kill you?_

 _Yeah, but I got rid of it. We don't have to worry about it anymore._ Ash grinned and patted him on the nose.

The dragon huffed. It was no use trying to get his Rider to explain herself. It was quite possible that she could not explain it anyways. Mercury growled and let smoke escape out of his nostrils. The breeze picked up and it blew itself around Ash, who laughed and sputtered slightly within the smoke. They sat there for a moment, letting the silence of the forest envelope them, the circle of death being the only thing to mark what had happened there in the clearing.

 _I wish we could just stay here. The silence is relaxing compared to the war that was happening in my head the whole day._ Ash said wistfully, falling onto her back to stare up at the sky.

 _I hate to burst your bubble, but we need to get back. A'ilarin and Nyetia are starting to look around for us._ Mer said, causing her to jump slightly. The dragon huffed as he shifted into a position to take flight when she was ready.

Ash stood up slowly. The pain had definitely for the most part disappeared, it still hurt to actually move. She guessed that was the effect of being dead for five minutes. She turned and climbed onto her dragon's back, settling herself and grabbing firmly on the spines in front of her.

 _Yeah, yeah. I know._ She said, sighing. Then she gasped and sat up straight.

 _What's wrong?_ Mer asked as he stood up.

 _I just realized that I never told them about my theory from yesterday._ She groaned. _I'm so gonna be grounded…_

Mer chuckled. _They'll only ground you if you lie to them, you know that._

 _That's the thing. I'm afraid to tell them about this though I'm sure that they have already felt the blackness radiating off of me when I came home from school today. And on top of that, I wasn't able to actually confirm anything. I have my suspicions about who was here yesterday, but there's no way for me to confirm that without giving us away to them._ Ash pinched the bridge of her nose. _They are so going to interrogate me as soon as we get back…_

 _Now you're just being over dramatic._ Mer huffed as he took off, rising rapidly to get above the tall trees.

 _Says you! You aren't going to be the one that they want to answer all of their questions. You'll be safe inside your stall, all cozy, while I'll be stuck in the study until A'ilarin is sure that she has squeezed every ounce of information out of me before I can go to bed._ Ash snapped, backhanding Mer on his wing softly.

 _That's not true! You know that Nyetia is going to crawl into my mind just as much as A'ilarin is going to crawl through yours!_ Mer snapped his jaw and let a puff of smoke go through his nostrils.

 _Pfft, as if. You don't know anything about what is going through my mind. All you can feel is the emotions right now._ Ash rolled her eyes. _I've kept this from all of you. It's all locked up in its own little box in my head, where no one but me can get it._

 _Then how are you so sure that A'ilarin is going to be able to get to it?_

 _Don't you remember how old that lady is? I'd be considered a child prodigy if I was able to keep something from her. And we both know that I can't. Right now she's just being polite and waiting for me to come to her about it._

 _Then give her a progress report and tell her that you don't want to say anything till you know for sure. That way we can come up with a game plan._

Ash let out a snort and shook her head. There was no way that A'ilarin was going to go for that. Ash knew that she was going to have to say something to her at some point, there was no getting around that. She secretly hoped that neither A'ilarin nor Nyetia would ask about it till tomorrow. She needed time to observe the people at school. Even in her semi-conscious state throughout the day, she was able to feel that something was off about the school. The Rider couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was similar to what had happened back in that clearing of the woods. The same sense of being backed into a corner, and no escape plan.

 _You know, brooding about it won't help you at all._ Mer sighed, as he angled downward into the paddock.

 _Tch…_ Ash scoffed as he landed, jumping off almost instantly. The blood didn't feel as thick running through her veins anymore, and the soreness was only a twinge here and there now. _You think I don't know that? But I have no solid information to give her. There's no way she will believe me that something is up with the school. Hell, it's only the second week! Classes have barely even started._

"What won't I believe?" A'ilarin said from behind them.

Both of them flinched, and Ash's face contorted into a grimace.

"Uhh… well, you see…um…" Ash mumbled as she turned and faced her mentor.

A'ilarin simply tapped her foot, waiting for her pupil to form a coherent sentence.

Ash, who was now thoroughly worrying for her safety, continued to try come up with a decent enough explanation for what they were talking about, knowing full well that A'ilarin was now fully aware that she and Mercury had gone back to the clearing. The one clearing A'ilarin had labeled off-limits until they knew who, or what, they were dealing with. The redhead scratched the back of her neck sheepishly and glanced up at her mentor. A'ilarin wasn't buying whatever she was trying to sell and Ash let her hand drop as she took a deep breath to calm herself.

A'ilarin sighed and gave Ash a critical look. "It seems that you have a hunch about what it going on, but you have no way to back up your claim. Is that what is troubling you so much?" She said, sounding slightly exasperated.

Ash, who was no longer trusting her words, simply nodded and dug the toe of her shoe into the ground. Mer hadn't said anything this whole time, let alone moved. Ash looked at him and saw that he was currently being stared down by Nyetia. That was when she noted a small trembling coming from the younger dragon.

"Ash."

She whipped her head around to face A'ilarin again. The older Rider raised an eyebrow. "What aren't you telling me?"

At this point there was no denying the fact that the teenager knew something was up, A'ilarin was not one for letting information slide by her. So she waited for Ash to make up her mind and tell her on her own terms.

Ash, on the other hand, was still trying to formulate a way to tell her teacher what she needed to know, without sounding like a total idiot she might add. Nothing good would come from raving about something she knew next to nothing about and sounding like a lunatic. When it came to these things, Ash ran with her gut and not with her head. And A'ilarin knew this all too well. The girl would say one thing, and then at some point decided what she had said was wrong and change her mind.

At this point and time, Ash's gut was telling her one thing, but her mind was demanding proof before taking action. She shook her head to clear it a little bit more, the mental exhaustion was starting to get to her, but she still had yet to say anything to A'ilarin.

"Okay. So. Here's the thing," She began slowly. "I think there is something at the school that may be linked to what happened yesterday."

A'ilarin's eyebrow twitched, and continued to wait.

"But I don't know anything more than that," Ash spoke again after a moment of looking at A'ilarin. "I need more time to be sure that whatever who or what that attacked yesterday, was in fact, at school."

A'ilarin let her breath out slowly. She had not expected Ashley to request more time. If one thing was for sure, Ash almost never required more time to make a decision about anything. She gave Ash nod towards the door to the house. The girl turned and headed towards their home, knowing that the conversation would be continued inside A'ilarin's study.

When she go to the house, Ash made her way up to the study. A'ilarin was a moment behind her, making sure that Nyetia wouldn't take off Mercury's head for disobeying. Normally the century old dragon was much more relaxed about draconic etiquette, but defying a direct order from an elder was still seen as a slight no matter what the reason. And it still demanded punishment.

A'ilarin stepped into the study and shut the door, already finding Ash seated in one of the chairs in front of the large desk. The senior Rider made her over to the desk and sat down behind it, leaning back into her chair and laced her fingers together. Ash wasn't meeting her eye, and she was clearly upset about one thing or another.

"What is wrong, Ashley?" A'ilarin finally asked when she finished her study of the young girl.

Ash started a little and sighed instantly. "I can't shake the feeling that things will tumble down around us all because you decided to send me to a public school." She stated finally.

A'ilarin's eyebrow rose once again towards her hairline. "That is what is troubling you? You should be well aware by now that the Government has basically shunned this area, deeming it unworthy of its so-called protection. That is why the people are more relaxed here when it comes to the mention of the Riders Corps. Not that you would know the difference as you have been living with me for the majority of your young life. Not once have you ventured out of these woods to investigate the nearby town, despite your adventurous demeanor."

Ash shrugged her shoulder. "What can I say? The way I was treated when I was younger left its mark, and I find it hard to trust anything that has been brainwashed by the Governments." She said, letting a slip of acid into her voice.

A'ilarin snorted. "I know where you are coming from. But that is still no reason to not give the rest of the world a chance."

"Why should I give it a chance when it clearly never gave me one from the start? I'm lucky enough to have Mer and you and Nyetia in my life. I'm happy with what I have, I don't see the reason why I need to go out and find more." Ash said defiantly.

A'ilarin gave her another pointed stare, letting her know that she was close to being disrespectful.

"Sorry, A'ilarin. But that's how I feel." Ash crossed her arms and sat back in the chair.

A'ilarin sighed for what felt like the nth time that night. She swore silently to herself that Ash was definitely going to be the death of her.

"I believe we got off track."

"You started it with sending me off to a public high school," Ash muttered under her breath.

A'ilarin glared at her and snarled, "I have had enough of your attitude. I was fully aware that you went to the clearing when I had already told you not to. You spent all evening there, doing gods know what. I don't particularly care what you were doing as long as you had dealt with whatever you came home with. I trusted that you could deal with it, whatever it was." She took a breath and let it out slowly before she continued. "As you have known since living here, I do not tolerate any disrespect. That has not changed in the week and two days you have gone to school. It has not changed since last night when we encountered a rogue Rider. Do I make myself clear, Ashley?"

Ash had shrunk back into her seat from the force of the speech A'ilarin made. She nodded mutely, knowing that if she let herself go, a more severe punishment than a simple tongue lashing would be in her near future.

"Good. Now tell me what you know, and then we will call it a night. I believe all of us are tired and ready for this day to end." A'ilarin let some of the heat in her voice dissipate, and waved a hand for Ash to talk.

Ash took a deep breath and ordered her thoughts. She started from the beginning. She told her how she thought that one of her friend's eyes had given him away on their first day at school when he helped her get away from the cheerleading squad. Then how later, there was a presence that had tried to enter her mind, which caused her to slam her barriers in place, and had dragged Mercury with. That she had the person that spoke to them the night when they all had been indirectly confronted by the rogue Rider, as they were now calling him, had sounded familiar and how everything had started to snowball from there. Ash had some trouble trying to explain the onslaught of mental pain that happened from there on out, and how she picked up on another presence within the school that day. She then explained the whole process of going through her mind and eradicating the pain and blackness that had threatened to smother her. She shied away from telling A'ilarin that she had technically been dead for about five minutes according to Mer. It would only cause A'ilarin to put her on lock down and observation to make sure it never happened again, and Ash planned to maintain some of her freedom after this.

By the time she was finished, A'ilarin had looked increasingly worried. She tapped her finger rhythmically on her desk as she thought about what Ash had told her.

After a few moments of silence, Ash spoke up again, "So what do we do now?"

"I wish I could tell you, but I don't have an answer for you," A'ilarin answered. She thought for a few more moment before speaking again. "For right now, we will continue to act like nothing has happened, while remaining on high alert for anything suspicious. I want you to keep an eye on that boy. Watch him for any more signs that he could be a Rider. Our eyes are not our only defining feature. Though you may not have noticed since you were so young when you and Mercury were joined, but we take on other draconic aspects."

She stood up and made her way over to a bookshelf behind Ash. The Rider examined a section before pulling out the book she was looking for. It was in an ancient dialect, but it was one that she had taken the care to teach Ash. She turned and handed the book to Ash. "Here. This a collection of the studies the Riders have done about the changes to their bodies since becoming paired with their dragons. This should provide enough information to enable you to find a Rider based on a picture alone. Make sure to study it carefully."

Ash hefted the book. It was well over a thousand pages thick. When as she going to have time to study this as well as complete her school work?

"I will call you out of school tomorrow, you will be 'sick' for the day, considering you weren't of the best health as of yesterday." Her mentor explained.

"Yes, ma'am." Ash stood, and walked to the door.

"Sleep well, Ashley."

"You too, A'ilarin."

The girl stood up and left the study. She made her way to her room while observing the tomb she had in her hands. The thing actually had dust on it from sitting on A'ilarin's bookshelf. It was going to take her forever to finish reading this. Ash groaned and tossed the book onto her desk as she fell into bed face first. Everything was changing. If she thought that her life had changed enough twelve years ago, then this was a whole new level of change. First, there was another Rider, even though he was more than likely hostile from being by himself this whole time. Second, she was certain that she had unlocked her magic, something that she wasn't ready for according to A'ilarin. Of course, she had not told her that yet, that was another conversation for a different day. Now she had to study about the changes to a Rider's body. Not only were they bonded to a giant fire-breathing lizard, but they took on features like their dragons? Ash's head hurt from all thinking about all the possibilities that would come with that. She shuffled around on her bed, slipping underneath the covers, not even bothering to change out of her school clothes. The day had been too long her, she simply didn't care anymore.

In the back of her mind, she came to a realization: they had passed the point of no return. Nothing was going to go back to normal after this.

* * *

 **AN: So, here's the deal guys. I went most of the day without wifi so I couldn't post anything right away, but I was able to manage to edit a ton of chapters (all the way up to 12, and I have up to 15 written) So I'm thinking that I will be able to get most if not all of them posted tonight.**

 **P.S. My back surgery is tomorrow morning, on 12/23, and I don't think I will be able to post anything tomorrow since I will be in the hospital most of the day and woozy from anesthesia, and no one wants a woozy edited chapter. So wish me luck with that. :)**

 **Please R &R!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: So here's what happens without wifi.. many chapters get edited at a time. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8

A few weeks later, Ash had finally finished studying the tome A'ilarin had given her. She was glad that she was given that day head start when it came to that thing. It was beyond dry reading. It was the equivalent to watching paint dry. She would know. A'ilarin had punished her one time for throwing daggers at the side of the barn by repainting it and sitting there and watching it. Ash was so bored that she had vowed to never have to sit through that again by not throwing her knives at the barn. Now she had a designated tree for her throwing knives.

Back to the book. The ancient Riders that were mentioned in the book took detailing everything to a whole new level, and had left her scarred and embarrassed at some of the things they had discussed. From physical appearances to relationships, the book covered EVERYTHING. Ash didn't really want to think about half of the things that went on in that book…

Also during those few weeks, she had become much closer to Kate, who had a keen interest in who the Riders were. She and her parents were one of the few families in the public that had chosen to ignore the Governments' warnings about the Riders and had taken it upon themselves to try to find them. Ash had to wonder if it were really wise for Kate to blatantly ask about them almost every day to their history teacher, but the teacher seemed to chalk it to youthful exuberance about history as whole and managed to answer a few of Kate's persistent questions every time they were done with the day's lesson. At this point, they had also exchanged numbers and texted each other daily like any normal high school girls.

Jason was another matter though. He had broken up with his girlfriend and claimed it had been a mutual thing, but judging from the death glares that Ash had received from the girl, she had a hard time believing that excuse. Jason had also taken it upon himself to be aloof. Well, more aloof than normal in Ash's book. Apparently that was normal, but Ash couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with the first couple weeks of school. Not that she could just go up and ask him about it though. He seemed keen on making himself scarce whenever she was around. Kate kept explaining that this was normal for him, even though she looked like she was having a hard time believing it herself. Apparently, this was a new level for him.

"You know, Kate. I really don't think Jason would just seclude himself like this. He hasn't talked to either of us for a week, despite us being in class with him." Ash mused aloud as they walked through the hallways to their last class of the day.

It was true, despite sitting with them during their shared classes, Jason had yet to say a word to them other than to say what needed be said during group discussions in class.

Kate shrugged. "But it still isn't unusual for him."

"Yeah but have we done something to make him basically ignore us if he had the choice?" Ash was starting to get fed up with his melodramatics.

"No," Kate said glancing at Ash before looking forward again. "To be honest, I keep forgetting that you haven't been around long enough to know the difference between him ignoring us and him needing his space. He simply gets this way whenever something is going bad at home, a break up…basically anything that doesn't go his way. I don't know much about his home life, but he has mentioned that it has been rough living with only one parent."

"I can see how that can be kinda rough…" Ash sighed. "But we are his friends right? Shouldn't he feel comfortable enough to tell us about these things?"

Kate shrugged again. "I wouldn't know. As his friend, he shouldn't feel obligated to tell us anything if he doesn't want to. We should be willing to wait for him to come to us about these things if he wants to talk about it. It does no good if we force it out of him."

"Tch…" Ash rolled her eyes. "He's still being a melodramatic pain in the ass, in my opinion." She muttered under her breath.

They walked into their classroom and sat down near the center of the room. The bell rang and the teacher launched straight into the lesson. Ash had grabbed a seat closest to the window. She was still having a hard time understanding why Jason was being so reclusive. She knew he wasn't the type of person to just go around and socialize with anyone. That in particular wasn't something that normal people seemed to do anyways. If she was being honest with herself, she was worried about him. In the few weeks it took for her to finish that blasted book that A'ilarin had given her, she hadn't been able to interact with Jason enough to put her theory to the test. When she thought about it, there was no denying the fact that his eyes had flickered like an open flame back on that first day of school when he helped her get away from the cheerleading squad. Her eyes always took on a swirling effect when she was angry, much like how clouds behave during a storm. Sometimes they sparked like they had on the first day of school when she was threatened. But that still wasn't enough proof to determine that he was in fact a Rider hiding in plain sight like she was at the moment.

Kate kicked her chair to get her pay attention in class. Ash's friend was always on top of that sort of thing. Then again, Kate was pretty much the perfect student despite the constant asking of question about the Riders, so it makes sense for her to force her friends to pay attention in class. Ash merely grimaced and continued to focus her attention out the window near her. The class was boring anyways, it was simply a review for the text that was coming up next week.

 _There has to be a way to get him to interact with us. I can't be sure about anything unless I get to know him better._ She thought to herself.

 _Know who better?_ Mer spoke up. Nyetia hadn't been working him as hard as she had been the past few days, so Ash and Mer had been able to have some small conversations while she was at school. All because she had unlocked her magic prematurely. Her ranged had nearly tripled in distance and she could easily reach all the way back home to talk to her partner.

 _Ugh, I might as well tell you._ Ash let out a quiet sigh _. His name is Jason. He is a classmate of mine, who A'ilarin and I think to be the rogue that we had a run in with about a month back. I still haven't been able to get any new information about him, of this weird sense of foreboding that is pretty much eating its way through the school._ Ash explained. She had totally given up on her class for the moment. She was already prepared for the test, so she didn't feel the need to listen to the review all that closely.

 _From what I can tell, he just keeps to himself._ Mer said after a moment. He had taken the time to watch Ash's interaction with the boy.

 _Exactly! That's what makes this whole thing difficult!_ Ash clenched a fist on her desk to keep from pounding on the desk in frustration. Kate gave her a worried look, but Ash didn't notice as she continued her conversation with Mercury.

 _Didn't you only just finish your study of that awful book that A'ilarin gave you?_

 _Yes, but I was hoping to do some investigation as I was goin' through it. But it is extremely hard to do that when the idiot won't even talk to us about anything if he doesn't have to._ Ash flexed her hand and relaxed it onto her desk again. Her nails had dug into her palm and she didn't want to cause a scene because she had started to bleed in the middle of class.

 _Well since you aren't focused on that dreadful book anymore, maybe now you can actually start to see things that would define him as a Rider. It's not the end of the world you know._ Mer said, trying to reason with the disgruntled redhead.

 _Tch, it would still be a lot easier if he would just stop being so damn quiet all the time._ Ash grumbled.

 _Like you're one to talk. You get just as quiet as he does when something doesn't go your way._ Mer had apparently decided to be the wise sage today to his Rider.

 _I do not!_ She yelled indignantly at her dragon. She plopped her elbow on her desk, and let her head drop in her hand as she pouted.

 _I have to say, since your time in school, you certainly have awoken some pent up anger._ Now he was just antagonizing her.

 _Listen her you giant lizard, if you had to sit in a building that literally has almost no windows and have a bell tell you when to jump, you would be going crazy too._ She drew up a mental image of her snarling at him. She really wanted to rip him a new one at the moment for him being so condescending.

 _One, I am not a lizard. Two, I am not being condescending, I am just being a voice of reason before you decide to go and confront the guy and have the Governments find all of us out._ Ash could just imagine him puffing out his chest and preening himself like he was some kind of bird.

Ash gave a small snort at the imagery. _Does that mean you're an amphibian? I can call you a salamander if you want._ She teased, focusing on his first point. She heard his wings snap out as he took a hit to his ego.

 _I AM NOT AN AMHIBIAN EITHER!_ He roared.

 _Haha, calm down, Mer. I'm just messing with you._ Ash smirked as she glanced at the clock. Only a half hour left of this class and then the school day was over. _In all seriousness, the whole situation is frustrating. Nothing wants to fall into place yet and it's been a month. I know the blasted book took forever to get through, and it didn't help it was in the worst language possible to translate either. By all standards, something else should have happened by now, but nothing has. It's making me feel like we are missing something._

Mer let his scales settle before he spoke. Ash always had a way of getting underneath them. Somehow she found it sadistically funny to do so whenever she felt like it, which was almost always. The silver dragon huffed.

 _That is true. But for now, all we can do it just watch and wait. A'ilarin told you to keep your head down. Raising it and causing a scene won't help us._

 _Oh, shove off, Mer. You know me better than that. I wouldn't compromise our lives just because I'm bored._

 _It wouldn't be the first time, Ash._

Ash gritted her teeth. Her dragon had a point. She tended to dive into her decisions too quickly before examining some of the consequences. This time though, the consequences were too big to ignore. Before they had simply hypothetical situations, this was real, and the Governments posed an actual threat.

 _I know, Mer, I know._

The bell rang, and Ash quickly packed her things and made her way to the hallway where she would wait for Kate to catch up. Kate normally took her time, she didn't get antsy like Ash always did when they had to sit through a boring class. Ash saw Jason walking through the crowd and called out to him. His six foot frame put him above the majority of the school so it was almost always too easy to spot him. He looked over to where she was waving, and maneuvered through the crowd to get to her. He arrived just as Kate left their classroom.

"Oh hey, Jason! Are you going to walk with us to the bus?" Kate asked, she was a little surprised that Jason was there at all. Maybe he was coming out of his little funk finally.

"Sure, if you guys don't mind." He responded.

"Great! Come on, let's go! If we hurry, we can all sit together on the bus!" Kate said excitedly. She grabbed each of their arms and commenced dragging them through the hallway. It was a comical sight to see such a small person dragging two people behind them that stood from a half a foot to a foot taller.

"Kate! Slow down, you're going to take my arm off!" Ash said as she was dragged through the hallway. Jason merely smirked as he allowed himself to be pulled along.

* * *

They made it to the bus without losing each other, or losing any limbs despite Ash being adamant about Kate being able to take her arm off. They all climbed on to the bus and found seats near the back of the bus. Kate shoved Ash down next to Jason, as she sat in the seat in front of them.

She turned around and leaned over the seat, an evil smirk on her lips.

"So, Jason, did you know that Ash here was worrying about you?" She practically sang.

Ash's eyes widened in shock and a blush creeped into her cheeks. "Kate, what the heck are you talking about?"

"Oh you know that conversation we had on our way to our last class? That was the most emotional I've seen you, until now that is, and it was about Jason. Are you denying that you weren't worried about him?" Kate gave her a knowing look before letting the grin appear on her face again.

"You know that it was only because he's been ignoring us for a week or more!" Ash crossed her arms and looked away from both of them.

"Aww, come on. It was cute. It shows that you can actually care about a person!" Kate crooned. She giggled as she watched the blush deepen on her friend's face.

"What the hell, Kate? What's that supposed to mean?" Ash swung her head around to face her friend again.

Jason, who had been quiet until throughout the whole exchange, spoke up, "Come off it, Ash. You've been emotionally distant ever since we met you. Kate, has a point. Though she has a weird way going about it." He shot a glare at Kate, who just grinned mischievously back.

"So? What's that got to do with anything?" She braced a hand against the back of the seat as the bus jerked into motion. "You're just as bad!" She exclaimed and pointed at Jason.

"I've always been like this. It's who I am." Jason said, sounding like she had just attacked his person. He was just playing along with Kate at this point.

"Doesn't that make you sort of a hypocrite then, Ash?" Kate asked in return.

"How? I don't get what you're trying to say." Ash said exasperatedly.

"What I mean to say is, why are you all of the sudden worried about Jason not talking to us, when you haven't exactly been open about yourself either. I mean, yeah, you do talk, but you're always so distant about it." She waved a hand around as she talked. "I mean, the deepest conversation we've ever had was about the Riders and your opinion on them, which is surprisingly liberal compared to a lot of other army brats that have moved around a lot."

"I never said I was an army brat." Ash said stiffly. "My parents' jobs just had them moving around a lot, and they don't talk about work either, so I don't exactly know what they do. They just don't like to settle down much."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to assume anything. But that's my case in point. Neither of us really know much about you. In fact, that's newest information I have gotten out of you this whole time I have known you, and we even talk outside of school too." Kate went on.

"Okay, okay, I see your point. But what's that got to do with anything? So what if I'm a private person? Jason is more of a recluse than I am." Ash gave in.

"Hey!" Jason said in protest to being called a recluse.

"Fine, you have a point there." Kate said, ignoring Jason.

"I know I have a point there." Ash huffed. She turned to Jason who was pouting against the window from being ignored. "Oh, don't give us that. You've been like that for a couple of weeks now. What's the deal?"

Jason gave her a side long glance before he sighed and looked out the window again. "Amy has been pretty much stalking me ever since we broke up."

"Okay…?" Kate said, trying to get him to elaborate. She grabbed onto the back of the seat as the bus came to a stop to let a few of the students off. They were currently driving through one of the more prominent neighborhoods, where most, if not all, the houses had a second level and multiple car garage.

"It's just been annoying, is all." He shrugged, and shifted so he could get a knee up into the back of Kate's seat.

"Seriously? That's all that's been bothering you?" Ash scoffed. "She looked like she's been avoiding you ever since you broke it off with her. And on top of that, she keeps giving me death glares from across the room. I think she believes it was my fault or something."

"How would it be your fault? I broke it off with her." Jason turned and looked at her.

"Yeah, even though you haven't exactly been around us, whenever you and she are in the same room, I'm with you, and you're hanging around me. It makes it look like you dumped her to try and go out with me." Ash explained.

Jason nearly growled, and his eyes flickered the tiniest bit. Ash gave him a sidelong look.

"Has it really looked like that?" He asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Kate spoke up. "From her point of view, maybe. And not to mention, the cheerleaders still have it out for Ash too, for whatever reason."

"I sit a table and suddenly I'm the most hated girl in the school." Ash muttered. "And they haven't bothered me either. I don't even see them in the hallways."

Kate glanced at Jason before speaking to Ash again. "That maybe, but I heard some of them trying to convince some of the girls on the dance team to go after you. What did you do to make them so angry with you?"

"All I did was apparently sit at their table on the first day of school. They asked me to move and as I was getting my stuff they knocked it out of my hands and made it nearly impossible for me to leave without making a scene." Ash recalled.

"They did that just fine on their own anyways." Jason muttered.

"Anyways, Jason came over and helped me out, the head cheerleader said something about Jason, and then let me go. That was the end of it from what I understood. I haven't sat at that table since." Ash finished.

"Huh. Well that's interesting to say the least. I know the cheerleaders can be quite the clique, but they have never exactly been bullies to anyone before." Kate mused aloud, tapping a finger to her chin.

"It's because Skylar wants to get back with me again." Jason ground out. "I heard some of the others talking about it on the way to one of my classes today."

"Well, don't you look angry," Ash rolled her eyes. "Still doesn't have anything to do with me though."

"Whatever. Just ignore them." The bus came to a stop as Jason stood up to leave. His stop had changed their order in which they said good bye to each other. Something about the bus driver having to change his route and pick up more kids for another route since that bus was at capacity. Ash got up and moved to the seat next to Kate. "See you guys later," he mumbled, and with that it was just Ash and Kate.

The bus was pretty much empty by now. Kate was one of the very last stops now and Ash was the next person to be dropped off. Ash had found out that Kate lived on the other side of the woods, almost in the next town over. Kate had mentioned in passing at one point that her parents ran a small farm out there.

The bus came to a halt at the end of Ash's mile long driveway. Her home had to be far enough back into the woods so random strangers did happen upon a dragon. Ash said her goodbyes and got off the hulking yellow contraption. She was never fond of vehicles, she always had a horse or Mer to get to places when she was growing up. So the idea of the lumbering vehicles that could somehow travel faster than Mer was lost on her. Ash took her time walking back to her home in the woods.

* * *

As she walked into the clearing where her home stood, her whole world was knocked askew as she was tackled by a hulk of silver the size of a small house. Next thing she knew, she was on her back being nuzzled by her suddenly cuddly dragon. His hot breath fanned over her in welcome as a rumble permeated her being. Mer was purring.

"Mer! What are you doing? Get off of me you over grown house cat!" She shoved at her dragon's nose, trying to wiggle out from one of his claws.

The dragon had the audacity to purr louder and rub his snout against her belly, tickling her in the process.

"MER! Get off!" Ash struggled to breath between her laughter and yelling at the dragon to get off of her.

After what felt like eternity to the young Rider, Mercury finally let up and allowed her to stand once more. Her ribs were sore from the pressure he had applied to keep her there as well all the laughing she had done when he ticked her.

She smacked him lightly on the nose. "What the heck was that for, Mer?" She put her hands on her hips as she stared her dragon down, grinning.

Mer huffed and blew a smoke ring at her. _Am I not allowed to miss you? It's been boring around here without you._ He mumbled.

"Is that it? You missed me?" Ash placed a hand on her heart. "To think the day would come when the almighty Mercury would fall to into boredom because his precious Rider isn't there to entertain him. Bless my heart, I did not know you had the capacity to experience such an emotion!" She exclaimed and fell into another fit of laughter.

Mer batted at her with his claws, careful not to scratch her. _Who knew you could be so care free! I haven't seen you laugh this much since you were twelve!_ He retorted.

Ash fended off his claws before Mercury leaned forward and crashed to the ground, pinning Ash under his head.

"Will you stop it? For the love of the gods, get off!" The redhead struggled against the weight of her dragon's head on her lower half. It was then that she noticed that the sun was blocked out and she looked up to find Nyetia and A'ilarin standing over them, both with amused looks on their faces.

"It seems to me that someone has finally come out of her shell with her friends." A'ilarin mocked.

Ash blushed slightly, and contorted her face into a grimace. "What about it? If I remember correctly, you basically told me to make friends while I was school." Ash gave another shove Mer's head. "Mer, come one, get off. I'm getting dirt all over my clothes!"

 _Like that has stopped you from playing before._ The silver dragon purred. He moved so that she ended up being pinned between two front paws. Thankfully she was upright and no longer lying on the ground.

"Tch. Is it such a bad thing that I would like my school clothes to remain cleaner longer than my workout clothes?" She asked, rolling her eyes to the sky.

"Mercury, let her go." A'ilarin commanded. "She needs to go brush up on some of her combat skills. Ashley, you'll do this for two hours: just meditate and practice basic maneuvers. Then it is hand to hand combat with me for an hour. Then you will have a flying lesson with Mercury and Nyetia. Now that you have acclimated yourself to your workload from school, we can continue with your training." She continued as Mer released his old on his Rider.

Ash turned and rapped him on his snout and gave him a glare before reaching up and scratching him underneath the corner of his jaw. The dragon purred again and leaned into it. "Okay, A'ilarin. Can I go get changed first? It'll be kinda hard to practice everything in my school clothes." Ash asked as she continued to scratch Mer around the base of his horns. She noted that during the weekend she was going to have to buff and oil his scales again. So much for having fun.

A'ilarin nodded, and the girl snatched up her backpack and ran towards the house. Mer followed after, looking like an over grown puppy plodding along behind its master. Neither of them would say it aloud, but they needed some quality time together. With everything that had happened and all the studying Ash had to do, it had left very little time for them to even speak to each other. The most they had spoken was when Ash merely got bored in class enough to bother reaching out all the way to the house. A'ilarin smiled, allowing herself to be proud of her student, who had basically become her daughter. She really had grown from the shy five year old when A'ilarin had found her. Now she had become a spitfire teenager that could almost give her a run for her money when it came to fighting, but had surpassed her in the magical department. The young Rider had so much untapped potential that A'ilarin couldn't help with. The rogue Rider had mentioned as much a month ago. He was right too, what Ash had accomplished that day was remarkable, and A'ilarin herself would've more than likely collapsed before she was even able to make it where she had been with Mercury at that time. She had been surprised that Ash had made it that far, and then continued about her business with only a headache to show for it the next day. But since she had opened her well of magic, she had no way of closing it, hence the amount of pain she had been in by the end of the day. All due to magical exhaustion. How she knew that she needed to meditate and sleep was beyond the older Rider's knowledge, but she was glad Ash had enough common sense to do what needed to be done, even though she had no idea what she was actually doing.

A'ilarin chuckled as she heard Ash yell at Mercury for actually bruising her ribs from the tumble he gave her, and made her way to the paddock where she would watch Ash train before joining her. The next step in her training would be to make sure she was physically ready to attempt some of the magic A'ilarin actually knew before she had to direct her to the multiple texts and ancient tomes she had in her office about more advanced magical theory.

Ash jogged out of the house and made her way to the center of the paddock, where she sat down and started to meditate. It was a ritual A'ilarin had taught her, so that she was able to completely focus for the next few hours. A'ilarin continued to watch from the fence. She contemplated the prospect of finding other Riders within the country so that Ash could continue her training. There was only so much she could teach her. Despite A'ilarin being close to 120 years old, she was still considered young by Riders' standards, making Ash a newborn respectively. There had to be at least one Elder still alive to teach Ash how to control her magic before it consumed her.

 _Nyetia, remind me later to try to reach out and try to find a nearby Elder._ A'ilarin told the amethyst dragon. _I fear that Ash will need more teaching than I am able to give her._

 _So you have sense her magic awaken as well._ The dragon took up a position next to her Rider.

 _Yes. I want to believe that somewhere in her ancestry, there was an Elder level Rider in her genealogy. There is no conceivable way that a normal human has that much latent power._ A'ilarin narrowed her eyes her student and noted the magical aura that had begun to appear. It was a stormy purple in color, with occasional streaks of white arcing through it. And it was almost to its full strength. She was almost completely recovered from her magical exhaustion a month ago.

 _It is possible,_ Nytetia said after a moment. _Do we have records that even go that far back? Much of the history we had as a Corps was lost after the war._

 _That is why we need to contact an Elder. They would be our best resources._

 _But our any of them still alive? The war was a hundred years ago, they would be close to a thousand years old by now._

A'ilarin gritted her teeth in determination. _That is a chance we will have to take. We cannot risk Ashley falling into the wrong hands because we did not complete her training. I have to believe that at least one of the Elders survived the war and has been hiding since, waiting for the new generation of Riders to come to them._

 _It might as well start with her._ Nyetia agreed.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry not sorry about the length of these chapters. Hope you guys enjoyed! Ch 9 is right around the corner!**

 **Please R &R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I should tell you guys why I went without wifi for what felt like forever today. My sister had winter guard practice today at some random elementary school that didn't have open wifi.**

 **For those that don't know, look up any marching band and the people who spin the flags/rifles/sabers are the color guard. My sis does this year round pretty much. She loves it and it gives her something to do, or I swear she would drive me crazy all the damn time...**

 **Enough of my ramblings.. Please enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 9

Over the next few hours, Ash was told firmly that she out of shape because of her lack of practicing what A'ilarin had told her. The jewel eyed Rider ran her into the ground, and she was exhausted. The hour long sparring was an embarrassment to say the least, to think that not having the time to practice would make it so Ash couldn't land a single hit on her mentor. On top of that, A'ilarin took the pleasure in getting every hit she could to Ash's ribs. The girl swore she had somehow heard her yell at Mer for bruising them in the first place. Exploit your enemy's weakness, combat 101. Though, with the way Ash had been moving before the multiple hits to the ribs, it couldn't have let anyone know that she was actually hurt there, and she didn't necessarily yell loud enough for someone outside the house to hear besides the dragons.

Ash gritted her teeth as she got up for what felt like the twentieth time. A'ilarin wasn't pulling any punches. Ash stood there panting, with a hand clutching to her side.

A'ilarin stood a few feet away with her hands on her hips. "Don't tell me you're almost done. From what you look like, one more hit and you'll be staying down." She smirked. She wasn't even out of breath.

"How…how did you know?" Ash asked between breaths.

"Know what?" A'ilarin tilted her slightly, and quirked an eyebrow.

"How did you…how did you know that…know that my ribs would be sore?" Slowly, Ash's breath was coming back to her.

"Oh, I assumed that they would be sore from the way the Mercury had tackled you earlier." Her mentor said as she took up her fighting stance.

Ash raised her hands in front of her face as she continued to regulate her breathing as best she could. "Sure, great assumption. But I never let it get to me until you decided to start wailing on them."

They started to circle each other slowly, watching for any movement that would signal a new attack.

"That is true, but I decided to test my assumption and you responded accordingly. Simple as that."

Ash shot forward and swung low with her leg, trying to knock A'ilarin of balance. The older rider leapt in to a round house kick. Ash ducked and rolled off to the side, out of A'ilarin's reach.

"I remember somewhere in that book you told me to study, that some Riders were able to pick up enhanced senses, with hearing, sight, and smell being the most frequent to appear." Ash theorized aloud as they started to circle each other again.

"Correct. You believe that I have enhanced hearing from being a Rider." A'ilarin left it as a statement. Then she launched into a series of punches and jabs that left Ash speechless for a moment as she focused on blocking and dodging.

Ash leapt away and shook her bangs out of her face. They had fallen out of the headband she was wearing along with her ponytail. "Yeah, I do." She said a little out of breath now. "It would make sense, since I had given Mer a piece of my mind when I got back to the house to change. My window was open, giving you a greater chance of hearing what I had said."

A'ilarin had remained still, her hands before her and her legs in a balanced stance. She merely nodded before straightening up and clapped her hands together to rid them of some the dust they had picked up.

"Good, you're starting to recognize some of the features of being a Rider." She walked over to the railing of the paddock they were in and grabbed a towel. "You may have not noticed since you became a Rider when you were so young, but you do have advanced hearing and sight, possibly smell at this point. Later on, your sense of kinesis with strengthen as well. Because of the young age you were at when you bonded with Mercury, it allowed you to assimilate more with your dragon, hence the stronger enhanced senses over time." She explained.

Ash let herself fall to the ground on her back, allowing the adrenaline to drain out of her body.

"Though, I have not heard of a Rider with enhanced taste, most of the enhanced sense are used for battle." Her mentor mused.

"That makes sense though. The Rider Corps used to essentially be a separate militia and the Governments were what put human armies on the map. We have always been a separate governing body compared to them. We had taken it upon ourselves to protect the general public from attacks, right?"

"In theory, yes. In the era predating this one, long before the Governments even existed, the Rider Corps was the leading governing body in the world. There were different sects throughout world, and there would be internal conflict nearly every turn of the century because one Rider or another would become obsessed with power and try to overtake the whole Corps. Even well before that, we were simply bred for battle. And over time, we would become peacekeepers. It is thought, that among the Riders that survived this latest war, our downfall was because we grew accustomed to peace and our senses were dulled. If our senses were as sharp as they were before our longest period of peace, we wouldn't have fallen as quickly, if at all." A'ilarin leaned against the nearest post, watching her student sit up and cross her legs.

Mercury had hopped in to the paddock and settled around Ashley, nuzzling her cheek lightly. She reached up and scratched his chin absentmindedly. "You said that there were more Riders that survived the war. Then where have they been this whole time? Wouldn't make sense to band together and send out search parties to find eggs and other young Riders?"

A'ilarin nodded. "Yes that would make sense, but we were actively hunted by the Governments for the greater part of this last century. It was only within the last decade or so that the Governments have been led to believe that the Riders have all died out. Humans live a much shorted life span than Riders do, so it is possible that they simply forgot that we can essentially live forever. Riders have their lives bound to their dragons, meaning they will live as long as their dragons. The dragon can pass on and the Rider will continue to live, but the aging process will begin again.

Ash opened her mouth to ask a question but A'ilarin continued without noticing her.

"The Rider's body will continue to age until they reach their physical prime, and then the bond that they share with their dragon will stop the aging. But, if the Rider dies before the dragon, the dragon will die along with the Rider." A'ilarin straightened up from her lean post and made her way to the house. "You can go flying now." She dismissed Ash with a wave over her shoulder.

"Well, that was interesting," She muttered to herself. It wasn't often that A'ilarin dove into her teacher mode. Most of Ash's life was asking a question and having a book be thrown at her with the answer hidden somewhere inside.

 _Let's not question it. It isn't every day that you get an answer without having to go research it yourself._ Mer said nuzzling her cheek again.

Ash shoved Mer away and stood up and stretched for a good ten minutes. There was no way that she was going be able to move tomorrow without feeling the beating she got today from her mentor. She redid her ponytail and gave up on the headband. Her bangs fell across her face and she swiped them out of her face. While flying, they would be blown back and out of her face, so she wasn't currently worried about them. Next she walked into the barn where they kept the dragon saddles. She hefted the hulking piece of leather full of buckles and straps. It was an old hand-me-down from when Nyetia had been as young as Mer. A'ilarin since then had had crafted a finer saddle for the purple dragon. The saddles were made so they grew with the dragon, ranging from the size of a normal horse's saddle to the size it was now.

Ash walked over to Mer and tossed the saddle across his shoulders, just in front of his wings. She commenced to dart around the dragon, secured straps and belts snugly, so the saddle wouldn't shift out of place while flying. All the straps had tick marks along them, marking when she had to change their length because Mercury had grown once again.

She huffed, it was taking longer because some of the straps were now too small, once again, her dragon had another growth spurt since the last time she had put this thing on him.

"Dang it, Mer. You grew again." She sighed as she scratched her head, thinking of where she had put the leather punch in the barn.

Mer blew a smoke ring around her and let out a rumbling growl as he laughed at her. _You should know that males tend to be larger than females._

 _Yeah, but that means sooner or later, we are going to have to make you a new saddle. This one isn't going to last much longer if you keep growing at this rate. The main strap only has a few more inches left to adjust with._ Ash complained, making her way over to the tool box in the stable.

 _My growth has slowed down the past couple of years, it would take a couple more years for us to actually come to that point._ The dragon reasoned.

 _The environment that we live in is the only reason you haven't grown faster. Right now, you're simply a forest sized dragon. If we ever have to leave this place, you're going to start growing again._ Ash shot him a look over her shoulder as she continued to dig through the tool box.

Finally she found what she was looking for and made her way back towards the silver dragon. She worked thoroughly, making new holes in the straps here and there to accommodate her dragon's new size. After a minutes she finished and tossed the tool into the saddle bag that sat behind her. She might as well keep it with her things if her dragon was going to keep growing.

Nyetia made her way over and settled into a lying position in front of them. _You aren't going to do anything special today. Just a routine flight around our property line. A'ilairn took more out of you than you realize, Ashley. You should take it easy for the rest of the night._

"Okay, Nyetia." The girl smiled up at the dragon, and then climbed onto hers. "You heard her, Mer. A _routine_ flight. No funny business." She said as she strapped her legs into the saddle.

He puffed out a smoke cloud and took off without warning, causing Ash to go through some whiplash before she was able to grab onto one of his spines.

 _God dammit, Mer! What did I tell you?_ She reprimanded.

 _I only took off. How is that supposed to be considered 'funny business'?_ The dragon chuckled.

Ash sighed and face palmed as he continued to climb so he was just underneath the clouds, from up that high, he could be mistaken as bird of some sort, and they could escape into the cloud cover before anyone decided to second guess themselves about it.

The two of them enjoyed the silence as they flew through the air. It had started to become colder as the seasons changed, and soon winter would be upon them. Winter wasn't the best season to fly in; there was always a constant risk of dragon wings becoming frosted over and hypothermia for the Rider. Overall it was an unpleasant experience for both parties, and it was an unspoken rule between them that they wouldn't fly during the coldest time of the year if they didn't have to.

They soared around the woods. Their property was nearly the entire woods in between their town and the next one over. It was broken up by a few rolling hills from the mountain range just north of them, but for the most part, the sea of trees was fairly flat. There were a few clearings here and there that broke up the trees as well. A shack or two could be found in a few of them, they were small safe houses that the Riders could use if they were found out, but since the Governments had more than likely forgotten about their possible existence, they had fallen into abandonment. The Riders weren't able to come back to them anymore.

They continued to circle around the forest, and it was then that they noticed a stream of smoke rising from one of the clearings in the distance.

 _Mer, you see that too right?_ Ash asked, she reached behind herself and found a pistol in her saddle bag. She always traveled with one just in case.

 _I smelled it a while ago, but I wasn't certain it was within our area._ The silver dragon confirmed.

Ash readied the pistol, making sure it was loaded before nodding to herself and putting it back in the saddle bag for now.

 _Land in a clearing far enough away that whoever they are won't notice us. And try to glide in._ Ash instructed, focusing her attention on the smoke.

 _Got it._

They flew for a few more minutes before Mer angled himself downward and landing two clearings away from where the smoke was.

 _That's as close as I can get. I'll follow around and come at them from the opposite side._

 _Alright, I'll go straight ahead then. Be careful._ Ash grabbed the pistol and shoved it into her waistband in the back. She slid off her dragon after undoing all of the straps that kept her place while in flight.

 _Same goes to you._ Mer said as he crept off into the woods silently. Dragons were the top predators for a reason when they still inhabited the world fully.

Ash made her way through the woods, the smell of smoke leading her. It was stronger down on the ground than it was up near the clouds. It took her almost ten minutes before she was close enough to the clearing in order to see who was watching the fire. She grabbed her pistol and kept it ready.

There was a person sitting with their back to her. She heard a twig snap from behind her and she whirled around, bring her pistol up. Her eyes widened in shock. When she had come to inspect the fire, she had not expected to find this.

* * *

 **AN: Yeah I know it's kinda short compared to the last couple of chapters but if I didn't split it up, the next chapter would have been close to 10,000 words and that's a little ridiculous in my book.**

 **Please R &R!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Now we are getting into some of the good stuff! I hope you all have enjoyed it so far, I'm having a lot of fun with this. :)**

* * *

Chapter 10

In front of her stood a dragon who was snarling at her, baring its fangs and growling lowly.

The dragon bared its fangs at her as she took a step back. She knew that there was a small chance that the rogue Rider was still around, but she didn't imagine them staying within their property. It was like yelling at the top of your lungs till someone found you. It was bound to happen eventually. Ash took another step back, still having her pistol raised at the dragon.

 _Mer, we have a problem._ She said.

 _You don't have to tell me twice._ The dragon replied. She heard his growl from behind her.

She focused her attention to the dragon in front of her again. It had fire orange eyes that glared at her, waiting for her to make a move. Ash stood her ground, but lowered her pistol, clicking the safety on as she did so. The dragon lowered its head and increased the volume of its growl. Ash made a decision.

"I won't hurt you." Ash said slowly. She crouched down on the ground and set her pistol down in front of her before she stood back up and took a step back, putting distance between her and the weapon.

The gun was pretty much useless in this situation anyways. It was loaded with regular ammo, all it would do is bruise the dragon's scales and make it angrier. Ash raised her hands in a platonic gesture, trying to convey that she really was not going to hurt this creature.

"I appreciate that you aren't going to hurt my dragon. I would hate to have to return the favor to yours." A voice said behind her.

Ash spun around and took up a fighting stance. The fire was bright enough that it back lit the person now standing in front of her. All she could tell was that they were tall and most likely male by the width of their shoulders. Ash simply glared at the man before her.

The male crossed his arms, probably glaring at her as she continued to glare at her.

"You know, I thought that since we established this to be a peaceful encounter by not injuring anyone, that we can drop the physical threats." He said.

"You stated your intentions towards my dragon, not myself." Ash responded coolly. She didn't shift out of her stance.

The Rider's dragon growled from behind her, and she heard Mer's response from across the fire in the clearing. The fire glinted off of his scales, making him look like the living embodiment of the flame.

The Rider in front of her sighed and pinched the bridge of is nose between his first finger and thumb. "I knew you were stubborn, but not this stubborn, Ash."

Ash's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know my name?" She asked warily, her lead foot shifted, prepping her in case she had to defend herself.

The Rider sighed and turned and walked towards the fire. "Feuer, you can stop growling at her, she said she wasn't going to hurt you." He said over his shoulder.

Mer snarled as the man made his way towards the fire, lowering his head and baring his fangs. The dragon took a couple steps back as the man sat down next to the fire. At this point, Ash was beyond confused. This man knew her, but she did not know him. Mer continued to growl and snap his teeth in warning but the man ignored him as he stoked the fire.

"I would suggest telling your dragon to back off before Feuer takes it the wrong way." The Rider said.

 _Mer._ Ash looked at her dragon, worry in her eyes. _His dragon is bigger than you. I don't want to see you hurt._

Mer looked at her and upon seeing her worried look, he backed off, closing his wings and raising his head regally. _I do not trust him or his dragon. Don't let you guard down._ Was all he said before moving off to the trees.

Ash nodded and continued to watch this new Rider. He didn't seem threatening but this whole situation felt wrong. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she it was as if she was simply experiencing déjà vu.

The dragon behind her, Feuer, bumped her with its nose, pushing her forward. She stumbled a little before turning and shooting the dragon a look, but she continued forward until she was standing next to the Rider.

"You know, for a while there, I thought I was the only Rider left." He said after a moment.

Ash shrugged. "I had more than a hunch that I couldn't be the last one either." She wasn't going to give away A'ilarin or Nyetia until she was certain that she could trust him.

"Was that the reason why you were flying around? Looking for more of us?"

"No. This is my land. I patrol it every now and again to make sure nothing is sneaking up on us." Ash watched as the other Rider's dragon made its way over to one side of the clearing.

It was a dark gray dragon, almost black, and it had a fire orange underbelly, the same color as its eyes. It laid itself down, curling its tail around its front claws.

The Rider noticed her gaze. "I was paired with him when I was around four years old. He was mostly orange then, but my first thought was 'fire' when I saw him crawl out of his egg. It was quite deceiving to find a smokey black egg and having an orange dragon emerge from it, you know." He laughed a little bit. "But when I was that young, I couldn't quite say 'fire' right. It wasn't until earlier this school year that I had apparently given him the same name but in a different language."

"What do you mean 'earlier this school year'? I haven't seen you at school before." Ash said, a little taken aback. There was no way another Rider was attending the same school as she was. But then again, there wasn't supposed to be another Rider in the area besides her and A'ilarin.

"Come off it, Ash. We have half of our classes together." He said, sounding slightly offended.

Ash took a good look at him. Despite his claim to know her well, she had no idea who he was. He had the same fire orange eyes as his dragon, which was slightly unsettling. They looked tired, cold even. The Rider had shaggy hair that look as windblown as hers probably did at the moment. His face was sharp with cheeks shallow and his eyes slightly sunken in, as if he was malnourished. For the life of her she could not place his face within her memory. Her eyebrows crinkled together as she stared at him, waiting for it to all snap into place.

His dragon snapped his teeth and looked pointedly at his Rider. He looked over and they locked eyes for a brief moment before the Rider chuckled and leaned back on his hands.

"That would explain it. Thanks, Feuer. I completely forgot that I use a glamour at school." With that his face shifted slightly, becoming rounder and younger looking, and his eyes dulled to a rich brown. His hair became shorter, not as unkempt as it was before.

As soon as Ash met his eyes, everything made sense. "Oh my freaking gods! Jason? What the hell?" She yelled in alarm, taking a few steps away from him.

Her yell caused Mercury to get worried and he bounded into the clearing and took up position right next to her, snarling at the boy before her.

Jason laughed at her reaction, throwing his head back in his mirth.

"Took you long enough. I'm surprised that even with all your magic you didn't see through my glamour before." He said, chuckling still.

"What are you talking about? I was told the Riders have very limited magic, not even enough to pull off glamours." Ash was dumbfounded.

Jason let his glamour fall, and the unfamiliar face reappeared. Jason's eyes crackled with amusement. "Yeah, but there are a lucky few of us that are born with a large amount of magic. You and I are two of them." He explained.

Mer was still snarling, still wary of this new Rider. Ash waved him off and he silenced himself before settling down next to her. Ash took a seat on his front leg, grasping her head in her hands, still unable to believe that the boy who barely spoke to her was a Rider like herself.

 _Ash…?_ Mer asked, lowering his nose to rub against her shoulder.

 _I'm fine… just a little shocked is all._ She replied as she massaged her temples.

 _Is this the Jason you mentioned a month ago? The one you thought was the rogue Rider that attacked us._ Mer inquired.

 _Yeah._ Ash breathed in through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth before looking up at Jason.

He was still grinning as if he won some prize for apparently pulling one over on her. He was watching her, waiting for her to ask another question. Ash couldn't help but shiver slightly, his eyes unnerved her. They were very draconic in color.

"Were your eyes always orange like that, or were they a different color before you met Feuer?" She blurted out.

Jason blinked at her, he clearly wasn't expecting that question from her. "They changed over the years. They used to be a light brown, but sooner or later I noticed that they were this blazing orange that they are now. I know it makes people nervous, but I couldn't stand those colored contacts that they make these days." He explained as he looked away from her. She relaxed a little now that she wasn't under his unnerving gaze. He seemed a little apologetic about the color of his eyes, Ash felt badly for suddenly asking about them.

"Sorry, I didn't really think about what I was saying." She apologized.

 _Like you had much of a filter anyways, Ash._ Mer muttered, blowing on her hair.

"Oh shut it, you lizard." Ash muttered back. She was rewarded with a billow of dragon smoke around her and more laughter from Jason.

"That explains why you always smelled like smoke." He said after he finished laughing at her.

"That bad, huh?" Ash ducked her head.

"Not enough to be too noticeable, I'm sure Kate wouldn't notice unless she invaded your personal space." Jason assured. "But for a Rider's nose, it's pretty defining." He chuckled again.

Ash groaned, no matter how much she scrubbed at herself when she showered, the smell of Mer's smoke always clung to her. She had almost gone as far to ask A'ilarin for perfume in order to cover it up.

"Like I said, I wouldn't worry about it. Normal people can't smell it unless they are practically in your face." Jason said, sensing her distress.

"Thanks," was all Ash muttered as she waved the smoke away. She let hand fall and the fell into silence as the sun finished setting, and all the light they had came from the fire Jason had created earlier.

Jason broke the silence first. "Did you have to fend for yourself this whole time when you joined with your dragon?" He sounded hopeful for the prospect of there being more Riders nearby.

 _Should I tell them about A'ilarin and Nyetia, Mer? I not sure if we can fully trust him._ Ash asked.

The dragon rumbled. _It's up to you, Ash. If you say that you trust them, then I have to trust them too._

Ash met Jason's gaze and shook her head. "No, I didn't. I was found by one of the few Riders that survived the war a century ago. They took me in and raised me, trained me, and educated me." She sighed loudly. "I only ended up in that high school was because they didn't have anything left to teach me. My Rider isn't gifted with an excess of magic like we are, I guess. So yeah."

Jason watched her. "They didn't have anything left from the war about magic?" He inquired.

"I mean, yeah. This area wasn't hit as hard as some other areas during the war. This is actually their birthplace and their home. They have some books on magical theory but I haven't gotten approval to start studying them yet." Ash admitted with a shrug. She wasn't particularly interested in magic. She should be though, she had noticed her magic growing the past few weeks.

"Approval? Was your Rider something like a general of war?" Jason scoffed. He motioned for Feuer to come over closer to the fire.

Ash shrugged again. "You could say that. But considering they survived the war and were hunted down by the Governments, can you blame them for running a tight ship?" She asked.

Jason glanced at her before shrugging it off. "I guess not."

"What about you? Were you alone this whole time?" Ash asked in return.

Jason stiffened and Feuer nudged his shoulder. He shot his dragon a glare and Feuer returned it. Clearly they had a differing of opinions when it came to this topic. The two toned dragon gave her an apologetic stare as Jason sighed in defeat.

"Not the whole time. I used to have a Rider that had raised me, but they were killed awhile back. Not in this area. You wouldn't be flying around so care free if that were the case." Jason said finally.

Ash snorted. He was probably right in that case. Mer lowered his head and she started to scratch his chin without even noticing. She stared off into the ever darkening woods, lost in thought.

Jason watched her, a small smile playing at his lips. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that he had to go with her to continue to survive. He and Feuer had run out of food a long time ago, and hunting the area had been increasingly difficult with Ash and her Rider patrolling their property. The one time he ventured too close had resulted in them springing one of his mental traps. He hadn't really stuck around to watch the aftermath, he was leaving just as Ash had come barreling from out of the woods and ran straight for her dragon and the other Rider. They had crashed landed not moments before and the Rider had broken her leg from falling off of the silver dragon. That was when he knew for certain Ash was a Rider, and one with as much magic as himself. They only found out about his presence there was because Feuer had thrown a fit about leaving like cowards. The stubborn dragon was worse than Ash in those regards.

 _It is with good reason that I am that way. Nova and Garrett raised us that way. You have forgotten their teachings in all the years that they have been gone._ Feuer huffed, shooting a spark towards to the fire that was just about to go out, igniting it again.

 _I haven't forgotten what they taught us, Feuer. It was simply the wrong time to try and confront them. Garrett had mentioned that there was another pair of Riders in the area, but he wasn't sure and wanted us to keep our distance until the time was right. It said so in his memoir._ Jason shot back.

The dragon snapped his teeth and turned his head away. Jason sighed. Their relationship had been strained ever since Garrett and Nova had been killed by the Governments. They followed the instructions Garrett had left them in his memoir and made their way to this part of the country, searching for the Rider that had been living here for the past decade. They had enough money to put Jason through a few years of school here, to keep up appearances, and a safe house in the woods. Jason had stretched the money as far as he could for the past three years, but it was running out quickly. He had given up buying food for the past six months, living off of the land much like Feuer. He placed a hand on the pocket where the memoir was safely located for reassurance, any little amount it could offer was better than none

Jason looked over and found Ash and her dragon watching him. She smirked and patted her dragon's head that rested on her shoulder, causing her to lean slightly.

"What?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh nothing, Mer just had something funny to say." She drawled, sounding bored.

"Mer? What? Like Merlin the almighty wizard? _That's_ your dragon's name?" He scoffed.

Her eyes swirled like twin storms. "His full name is Mercury. Mer is just a nickname." She snapped.

"Well I guess the name's appropriate for the dragon." He laughed at her retort.

"Hmmph, at least I could pronounce my dragon's name when I named him, unlike some people." She goaded, gracing him with a glare.

"Hey! That's a low blow!"

"You admitted to it first." She said as she stood up and made her way over to the woods. She disappeared for a moment before walking back towards the fire. The pistol was in her hand again and she was busy fiddling with it, causing the clip to fall into the palm of her hand expertly. She racked the firearm causing the loaded bullet to eject into the air before she caught it as well.

The girl tucked the main part of the weapon into her waistband and let her hands continue their routine of putting the bullet back into the magazine before she pulled out the gun again and slamming it home again. She let the action click forward before she clicked the safety off and on again. She made her way over to Mer and climbed up his shoulder and rummaged through her saddle bag again. She pulled out a jacket and replaced it with the firearm. By now it was fairly late and she was due back at the house soon. She zipped up the hoodie and started to strap herself in again.

"You planning on leaving?" Jason spoke up from the ground. The dancing light from the fire illuminated his face, and she could tell that he seemed disappointed that she was leaving so soon.

"I have to get back before my Rider thinks the worse and comes searching for me." She explained. She tugged on the straps, double checking that they were secured. They still were dancing around each other, not wanting to fully trust either. Too many secrets were still being kept.

"Oh," was all that he said. He stood up and dusted himself off.

He looked dejected and Feuer was no exception either. She watched them as Mercury stood up, rustling his wings to warm them up again. Jason started to climb on to Feuer bareback and they had just started to turn away before she called out to them one last time.

"Wait." She said. Jason paused and looked back at her. She fidgeted under his gaze, suddenly unsure of herself.

"Yeah?" He asked. Feuer swept a tail over the fire, dispersing the flame and the coals.

Ash fidgeted with the saddle straps, attempting to hide her nerves. Wait, why was she nervous? She shook her head to clear and met Jason's eyes once more. "Were you that rogue Rider that attacked us a month ago?" She finally asked.

Jason looked away and his shoulders slumped. "I won't make excuses about laying that trap." He said after a moment. He cast his gaze to the sky, the stars were fully visible by now.

"But…?" Ash said tentatively. Mer shifted underneath her sensing her uneasiness.

"But it was not intended for your Rider or your dragon." Feuer's tail whipped side to side as he shifted around, waiting to take off. "Feuer and I were out hunting and laid the trap. We didn't realize that we had travelled so close to where you were. I hope there were no lasting injuries." He apologized.

There hadn't been any lasting injuries, A'ilarin had healed her leg herself, and Mer only had a few bruised scales from crash landing. Same with Nyetia. None of them weren't permanently damaged form the fall.

Ash shook her head. "No they're all fine now." She said.

Jason glanced back at her. "Why did you want to know?" He had a feeling he knew the answer, but again she surprised him.

"I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't another Rider still out there, I'd hate to come up to them, guns blazing like I did to you today." She said with a shrug.

He was certain that she was going to say something about not wanting the Governments finding them, but she seemed so sure that they had forgotten about this area. He chuckled to himself. In the month that he had gotten to know her, Ash failed to fit into any stereotype. It was always a guessing game with her.

Jason and Feuer turned to take off but she stopped them again. Feuer was anxious to be up in the air, rustling his wings in agitation.

"You don't have to go back to wherever you go, you know. I'm sure my Rider wouldn't turn you away if you asked to stay." Ash said sheepishly. She was rubbing the back of her neck and looking anywhere but him. If she was being honest with herself, she was had no idea what A'ilarin would do if she brought back another Rider, they struggled themselves to try and hide the fact that they were feeding two dragons, three horses, and themselves. Their grocery bill was outrageous every month.

She finally looked over at Jason, a look of shock on his face. "You sure?" He said quietly.

"Well, yeah, for the most part. She can be kind of a stickler about things, and she won't ever admit to it, but she does have a soft spot for kids on their own." Ash prattled off. Mer rumbled, his sides vibrating as he laughed at her. She pulled on one of his spines in retaliation.

Before Jason could answer, Feuer spoke to her for the first time. _He's an idiot and won't actually accept your offer because he thinks that we will all be better off by ourselves._ He sounded like he wanted to give his Rider a whack on the head for good measure too.

"I wouldn't do that!" Jason objected loudly.

Ash chuckled. "Well, either way. I'm sure you could find the house without me leading you to it, but I have to go. It's late enough as it is." And with that, Mer leapt into the air, leaving the boy and his dragon behind.

Feuer took the air quickly after that, following Mercury whether his master commanded it or not. He spotted the quicksilver dragon in the distance and pushed his wings harder through the air in order to close the distance between them.

 _Why would you say that?_ Jason asked furiously. He was quite upset that his dragon had embarrassed him so thoroughly.

 _You were too shocked at her request to even bother answering her._ Feuer said.

 _But did you have to say like that?_

 _It was the only way to snap you out of it._

They were now a few dozen yards behind Mercury and Ash. Despite the darkness of the night, the moon had lit up Mercury like a beacon, causing him to shine almost as bright as one of the many stars in the sky. Ash was sitting back in her saddle, watching the sky. She looked like she trusted her dragon explicitly, even as Mercury quickly dove to the trees before pulling up to skim swiftly over them. Jason barely heard her laugh over the wind, and he wished he had such a carefree attitude. Soon Mercury began to circle a rather large clearing and Feuer followed suit, slowing down so that they could land.

Mer touched down in the paddock before skipping out of the way, allowing for Feuer to land as well. The door to the back of the house slammed open and light poured out into the backyard. Ash heard a low growl from behind them and turned in the saddle to find Nyetia snarling at Feuer, and Feuer growling back at her defensively. She rapidly started to undo the straps keeping her in place, but the next thing she knew was that she was being thrown off of Mer and into the ground next to him. Ash struggled to get her face out of the ground and caught the murderous glare of A'ilarin just behind her shoulder. She heard Mer leap over to place himself between Nyetia and Feuer before anything else could happen. Jason remained where he was on Feuer.

"What is the meaning of this, Ashley?" A'ilarin ground out, tightening her grip on the girl.

"Let me up and I'll explain everything." Ash said. "Please."

A'ilarin hesitated before shoving away from her and waving Nyetia off. The purple dragon snapped her teeth, but she ceased her growling.

Ash stood up slowly, rotating the shoulder she had landed on. She knew that A'ilarin would react unpleasantly at first, but she didn't expect her mentor to become violent towards her. It was only on the rare occasions that Ash had upset A'ilarin enough that the older Rider had to resort to physical correction.

"Explain yourself. Now." A'ilarin said, standing front of Ash, glaring.

"They needed a place to stay. I offered." Ash said curtly, gesturing towards Feuer and Jason.

"And you think that we can hide another dragon and their Rider here? Maybe you're not as bright as I thought you were. We cannot. We can barely support ourselves, let alone take on another Rider." A'ilarin seethed.

"Yeah? And they've been on their own for gods know how long, A'ilarin! We can't just kick them out to fend for themselves in these woods. We have a greater chance of surviving if we gather together!" Ash yelled and gestured wildly.

"We also have a greater chance of being found! It is hard enough hiding the diets of two dragons, let alone three!" A'ilarin yelled back, effectively losing her cool demeanor.

They continued to yell back and forth as Jason and Feuer watched. Mercury and Nyetia simply watched as well as their Riders argued to the point of their voices going hoarse. Each were coming up with more and more reasons why the two newcomers could either stay or leave, until Ash mentioned Jason's and Feuer's mentors.

"And their mentor died on the run from the Governments years ago! They've been on their own since then. They can't keep living like this for much longer." Ash was breathing heavily from voicing her frustrations with A'ilarin about the situation.

What she said caused A'ilarin to pull up short. She blinked at Ash before she spun around and faced Jason and Feuer for the first time.

"What were their names?" A'ilarin asked.

Jason remained quiet, a bit confused about the sudden change in the woman. Feuer shifter uncomfortably as the Rider made her way towards them.

"What were their names?" She asked again stopping just in front of Feuer.

Jason looked at Ash, trying to decide whether or not her Rider alright. Ash merely nodded.

"Garrett and Nova." Jason muttered quietly.

A'ilarin froze completely. Both teenagers and their dragons watched as the Rider didn't move a muscle. They jumped when Nyetia let mournful noise and bowed her head to the ground. A'ilarin collapsed not a second later, staring down at her hands.

"How long?" She whispered.

Jason slid off of Feuer and stood next to him. "Barely three years ago." He said in a hushed voice.

"Did… did he die with the honor of a Rider?" A'ilarin looked up from her hands and met the eyes of the boy.

Jason just nodded. Even after three years, he still hadn't come to terms with the death of his teacher.

A'ilarin sighed with relief as she rose to her feet. She stumbled slightly, but Ash was there to steady her. She placed a hand on her student's shoulder and nodded before speaking up again.

"Both of you, meet me in my office. Ashley, take care of Mercury." She ordered before she met Jason's eyes. "I'm sorry you had to witness that," she apologized. "You are welcome to stay in the meantime." Then she turned and made her way to the house.

Few moments later, the paddock was engulfed in darkness as the door closed behind her. Nyetia was still mourning loudly. Ash made her way over to the dragon, making calming noises as she reached out and stroked her forehead. After a few minutes, the dragon finally quieted. Nyetia butted her head against Ash, silently thanking her before she stood up and walked away, a depressed droop still evident in her wings.

Mer nudged Ash's shoulder, getting her attention. The girl rubbed his nose before nodding, not needing any words to know that Nyetia needed time alone. Mercury turned and made his way over to the barn and settled just outside of it, waiting for Ash to come take off the saddle.

Ash sighed before turning away from the direction Nyetia had wandered off. She gave Jason an apologetic glance as she passed him to get to Mer. Then she busied herself with undoing all of the buckles and straps of the saddle.

She heard Jason make his way up to her as she was finishing up.

"So…" he began awkwardly.

Ash sighed. "You don't have to worry about it being like this the whole time. A'ilarin has been on edge for a long time now, but she hasn't explained anything to me yet." She explained as she slid the saddle down Mer's shoulder.

"Well, that was the least of my worries." Jason said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ash graced him with a smirk as she walked away with the large saddle. She placed it on the ground, making sure it was out of the way. She would take care of it tomorrow when she buffed and oiled Mer's scales she decided.

"I wouldn't sweep it under the rug, either." She said when she got back. "A'ilarin may be a creature of habit for the most part, but it is all for good reason. The Riders who survived the war always had it pretty rough before the Governments decided they weren't worth their time anymore. And I have to admit, the two of us have been lucky for as long as we have been here, as far as Riders are concerned."

Jason didn't respond as he watched Ash rub Mercury's nose for comfort. The dragon purred quietly for a moment before pushing her away, telling her to stop making A'ilarin wait.

She turned back to him, a determined look in her eye. "Come on, we might as well get this over with. I actually want to get some sleep tonight."

Ash let him to the house after instructing Mer to stay where he was with Feuer. Jason followed her without another word. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **AN: And there we have it. Hope you guys liked it!**

 **Please R &R!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Gosh I was so bored today, here's the second to last chapter for the night, promise... maybe.. who knows...**

* * *

Chapter 11

Ash knocked on the door and waited outside of A'ilarin's study. Jason peered over her shoulder. Soon enough they heard the Rider's voice and Ash opened the door. A'ilarin was seated at her desk, holding a picture frame in one hand as her chin rested in the other. She looked up and gestured with the frame for them to take a seat.

A pregnant silence engulfed the room as the teenagers watched the Rider. A'ilarin continued to stare at the photo she was holding. Ash shifted uncomfortably in her seat, Jason simply waited. They had no idea what to expect from this.

Finally, Ash couldn't stand the silence anymore and spoke up, causing A'ilarin to flinch at the sound of her voice.

"A'ilarin…what's going on?"

A'ilarin sighed and set the frame down her desk. From Ash's angle, she could only tell that it was a photograph of two people.

The veteran Rider looked over at the boy seated next to her student. "What is your name, child?" She said gently, tracing a finger along the picture frame.

"Jason." The boy said.

"And your dragon's?"

"Feuer."

A'ilarin nodded and they fell into silence again. She felt Ash bristling in her seat at being ignored. The girl was about to speak again but A'ilarin held up a hand to keep her quiet.

"Ash, now is not the time to rush me." She said sternly.

Ash closed her mouth and pouted, falling into to the back of her seat.

A'ilarin took another moment before looked at the two teenager once again.

"You two are aware that you are the next generation of Riders in the world. I have not hidden that fact, and I am positive Garrett hadn't either. Now that the three of us are here in one location, it is quite possible for the Governments to notice the amount of wildlife that disappear from the area. These woods are barely able to handle two dragons, let alone three. If I am being completely honest, we will more than likely have to relocate by the end of next year, and if we are proactive and conserve everything that we can, maybe we can delay it to the year after that."

A'ilarin took a deep breath and let out slowly before continuing. "Ash, what have I taught you about how the Rider Corps operated?"

Ash took a second to think about it. "They were assigned in pairs. One Rider would be a liability on missions, and three could result in more losses than they could afford. Two was the prime number. They basically lived, ate, and breathed together to ensure the optimal amount of teamwork."

"Good." A'ilarin nodded and held up the picture frame to stare at again. "Garrett and I were a pair. We were an active team for the greater part of the war. It wasn't towards the end, on our last mission together that we were separated and we lost contact with each other." Her voice wavered slightly as she continued to talk. "As soon as the war was over, I searched for my partner all the way up to the time where I found Ashley and Mercury wandering around in the wood-sea to the south of this area. I was returning from a self-imposed search and rescue mission and had just lost my pursuers before flying away on Nyetia."

 _She sounds like she almost regrets finding me in those woods…_ Ash thought to herself, watching how her mentor continued to stare at the picture in her hand.

After a moment, A'ilarin continued. "I do not regret not being able to search for Garrett and Nova the twelve years. I was able to raise a brilliant Rider in my stead. Ashley, I may not say it enough, but you _are_ a brilliant Rider, and you give me hope for the revival of the Corps."

Ash blushed deeply at the praise. She had had no idea that A'ilarin felt that way about her. She hid behind her bangs as she tried to regain her composure. This night was just full of surprises.

A'ilarin smiled gently before turning to Jason, and changing topics.

"Jason, I can tell that you have a large well of magic, much like Ashley. Unfortunately, I cannot teach you anymore than you already know. I'm sure Garrett did as well. From experience, I can tell that you have a firm handle on it even though you of what you know has been self-taught. I will have to ask that you teach Ash to control hers. It has only been a month that she has awakened her magic, so we are still within the time window before it consumes her. You more than likely have another month left to help her."

Jason nodded and glanced at Ash. She was watching A'ilarin intently, she looked almost shocked that A'ilarin had mentioned her magic. The Rider was watching her student as well. Ash's eyes were swirling like twin storms and her jaw was clenched, as her blushed disappeared quickly upon hearing that request. Her mentor hadn't even begun to teach her anything about magic when she had enough to heal a broken bone. A'ilarin raised a brow, staring back at the girl. A moment of silence followed before Ash nodded, conceding to letting Jason to be her teacher on the subject.

"What I am going to tell you next will be hard for all of us. I'm not asking you to do this, I am telling you." She took a moment to each of their eyes.

"Both of you have so much magic, that what I have here for you to read will not be enough for you to ever completely make use of what you have. If it comes to the point where you both had read and mastered everything in the time it will take for the forest to no longer sustain three dragons, I will have to send you to the nearest Rider Elder to continue your education."

Ash narrowed her eyes, scowling. "And what? Are we simply supposed to leave you behind? You know I can't do that!"

"You can and you will." A'ilarin snapped.

Ash gritted her teeth and fell into the back of her seat again, crossing her arms and looking out the window. So much for the great parental moment barely a minute ago.

A'ilarin pinched the bridge of her nose between her first finger and thumb, sighing heavily. "I do not like the situation any more than you do, but it's for the best. Remember, Riders operate better in pairs. A trio is asking to be found."

"But still! We are both inexperienced compared to you! How are we supposed to find this Elder if we have never left this region before?" Ash argued.

"You forget that when Jason was with Garrett they were well outside of this region before Jason had made his way here without Garrett." A'ilarin reasoned.

"That's besides the point!" Ash ground her teeth. The lack of sleep was making her irrational, she knew it, but this wasn't something she was going to roll over and accept.

"How?" A'ilarin said cooly. "Jason has had encounters with the Governments before, he has some idea how they will come after you if you happen to be caught. He even escaped them. I'm positive that if the two of you work together, you will make an effective team."

"Tch…" Ash narrowed her eyes. "Big deal. He's seen the Governments up close and personal. He had Garrett backing him up. Garrett was a war veteran just like you."

Jason sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, I had Garrett and Nova there with me. But we worked together as a team, like the Riders would back in the day." He said tiredly.

Ash gave him a scowl. He wasn't helping her in convincing A'ilarin that she needed to come with them. Ash moved her glare to her mentor again.

"What I am trying to say is that, even though he has had some encounters with the Governments," She said, waving a hand dismissively at Jason, "Both you and Garrett are veterans of war, where we are both a product of uneasy peace. We haven't been forced to fight for our lives yet, not to the scale of which you were. It doesn't seem like this is a very wise idea."

A'ilarin put her elbow on her desk and let her chin fall into her hand once again. "Are you trying to insinuate that I am letting my emotions cloud my judgment, Ashley?" She said icily.

Ash shivered. She could count on one hand how many times she had heard that tone from her mentor, and none of them ended without her being able move the next day.

"N-not quit-te…" She stuttered as she shrank back into her seat, making herself as small as possible at the moment. She heard Jason snort quietly next to her, but now was not the time to give him a smart remark.

Her mentor locked eyes with her. "I'll have you know, that for the past week or more, I have already been considering leaving this place in search of an Elder to finish teaching you about magic. It is not a decision I have made lightly, and with certain events happening, they have only solidified my decision."

"You haven't even taught me any magic!" Ash exclaimed, exasperated.

Out of nowhere came a flying object that struck her in the middle of her forehead. Ash hissed in pain and held a hand to her head. Her eyes watered in pain and absolute frustration that her teacher was ignoring her. She was lucky that the object that had hit her was simply a paperweight, it could have been a letter opener or even worse, an actual knife.

"What the heck was that for?" She whined.

At this point Jason had a hand pressed to his mouth as he tried not to let his laughter escape him. Ash sent him a death glare, but that only made him laugh that much harder.

"For being an insolent brat." A'ilarin snapped, running a hand through her hair and taking a deep breath.

"I know I'm right…" Ash muttered under her breath, quietly enough that neither of the other two Riders could hear her.

"I have taught you magic, albeit in its simplest form. All the meditation you do is what has allowed you to get away with not knowing anything about magic to this point. In this world today, the Governments are constantly on the search for magic, and any spike in the readings they do across the countries could have alerted them to where we are." A'ilarin explained.

"So? My magic has been unleashed for a month now, why haven't they come looking for us yet?" Ash asked, still rubbing her forehead.

"Because while you have been at school, I have gone through the surrounding area and eliminated any Government officials that were searching."

Ash's and Jason's eyes widened. A'ilarin had held a deadly glint in her eyes when she had confessed to killing who knows how many people in the Governments within the last month alone. Both of the teenagers were left speechless.

A'ilarin cast her eyes upon the photo before standing it up and turning to the two before her. "This night has been long enough. Time for us to get some sleep. We will discuss this at greater length another time. For now, things will continue as normal, except I will be withdrawing you both out of school."

"Wait a minute!" The said at the same time, ignoring the obvious dismissal.

The Rider behind the desk simply raised an eyebrow.

"We have a close friend at the school, we can't just disappear on her." Jason explained.

"Right, she does have a right to know." Ash nodded.

A'ilrain thought about it for a moment, before shaking her head. "I don't think it is wise for you to tell her that you both will be leaving. It will look suspicious that both of you are leaving at the same time."

"Yeah, and so does pulling us both out of school at the same time." Ash scoffed.

A'ilarin steepled her hands on her desk. "You have a point." She turned to Jason. "You will continue to go to school for the remainder of the month. Ash will tell your friend that her parents have decided to relocate once more and is too busy with the move to come to school. You will continue to act as if nothing happened. Get off the bus at your normal spot and have Feuer bring you here."

Jason nodded, but Ash spoke up once more. "Why do I have to be the one not going to school?"

"After the argument we had at the beginning of the year, I am surprised that you have had a change of heart, Ashley." A'ilarin said sarcastically.

"Shove off, I just wanted to see my friend one last time before leaving her behind is all." She muttered.

"Either way, both of you won't be going to school tomorrow. It's well into the night and is almost morning. Both of you need your sleep. Ash, show Jason to a room."

And that was the end of that.

Ash stood up and made her way to the door and Jason followed after her quickly. They made their way through the house, going up one level. She showed him where the bathroom was located and then led him to where his rom would be. It was down the halls from hers, but the others that were on that level were full of more books and old broken weapons. Not exactly the ideal place to sleep.

"You can sleep here." Ash said awkwardly from the doorway. "Um…I might have clothes somewhere in the other rooms from the previous owners."

Jason raised an eyebrow at her as he made his way into the room.

She rolled her eyes at him. "They up and left everything here. When A'ilarin found the place it was abandoned with three horse almost dead from starvation. The people who were here left just about everything from clothes to farming tools. Much good that they do in a forest. Look, I'm sure you don't want to stay in those clothes all the time and unless you have an unlimited supply hidden somewhere, you're going to need more clothes."

"I'll be fine for tonight. Tomorrow I can take Feuer to my old place and grab them." He said.

Ash shrugged and left the room. "Well, see you when the sun is up then."

"Night."

Ash made her way to her room and got ready for bed. She was exhausted. From the training that she had done today and everything else that happened afterwards, it was a wonder that she was even still awake to dress for bed. Anyone else would have just collapsed by now. Ash crawled onto her bed, not even bothering with the covers and face planted into her pillow. On some level, she felt that Kate was going to kill her for telling her that she wasn't going to be able to come back to school. Especially since she "just recently" moved in. At this point, she had nothing else she could do. Despite what A'ilarin had said about her magic, she really doubted she only had a month gain control over it, it hadn't once spiked since the incident a month ago with the rogue Rider, Jason now, despite its growth.

To be honest, it probably had something to do with the fact that she had taken the time to unlock it after letting Jason's trap run wild through her on that first day. She hadn't told him about picking up the remnants of the traps when she was working with Nyetia, she didn't have the heart to. He had looked so broken and sorrowful for causing such an accident. Back to her magic, she was lucky that she had unlocked it properly on the first shot, or she could have died. With Jason as her teacher on the matter now, things were bound to get interesting. Ash barely knew anything about the boy, but he hadn't had the chance to figure her out for a while now, between school and her interactions with A'ilarin, he more than likely thought she had some personality disorder. She was quiet at school, and here she was let her temper run free. It had to give someone whiplash when dealing with her to some extent.

Ash moaned as she rolled over and stared at her ceiling. To say things just got interesting would probably be making a joke of the situation. Her thoughts swirled around in her mind until she finally fell asleep. The last look at her clock said that it was almost four in the morning. Today was going to be a great day.

* * *

 **Please R &R**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: So this is a crazy long chapter. I didn't mean for it to be this long but I just couldn't stop writing. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 12

Ash rolled out of bed and stifled a moan. It felt like she only had about five minutes of sleep before she was being forced awake. Her ribs screamed at her as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was ten. Well, at least she got six hours of sleep, so she'll be functional for the day, but her mood was less than what was to be desired.

"Come on, up and at 'em." A'ilarin ordered from her door.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm movin'." She mumbled.

Ash used her bed to help her stand. Her whole body was sore from the training session yesterday and she was going to have to spend at least a half hour of stretching to work out all the kinks.

She rolled her neck and shook her arms out as she made her way over to her dresser. She pulled out some comfortable work clothes and started to get dressed. Ash grabbed a hoodie from her closet and threw it on before walking out of her room and making her way downstairs to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. She yawned widely, squeaking a little towards the end.

"Well, I've never heard such an adorable sound come from someone as rough around the edges as you are." Someone said from the kitchen table. Jason.

She scowled at him, saying nothing as she went to the fridge to pull out some eggs and milk to scramble. Next she went to the cupboard to grab a bowl while also pulling out a drawer that had some cooking utensils in it. Ash grabbed a whisk and set to cracking three eggs for herself while pouring some milk into the bowl. Once that was done, she whisked everything together, making sure that it was a fairly even consistency.

"You making some for everybody?" Jason asked from behind her. He had snuck up on her while she was focusing on making her breakfast.

She flinched, nearly upsetting the bowl before she whirled around and faced him, practically snarling. He backed off instantly, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Okay, no need to kill anyone, Ash." He said as he continued to back away and she followed until he was backed up against the counter on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"One," She held up a finger for emphasis as she continued to snarl at him. "Do not, under any circumstance, talk to me before I have had a cup of coffee. Two, I am not a morning person."

"I gathered," Jason smirked at her.

Ash turned around and made her back to the stove where her bowl was located. She grabbed a frying pan that was hanging above the stove and set it down, lighting the burner as well. She let the pan heat up as she made her way to the coffee pot that was already full from A'ilarin always being the first person awake in the household. She pulled a cup down from the cupboard and poured herself some. She dropped a few sugar cubes into the drink and made her back to where she left the milk and then poured a small amount into the coffee. She grabbed a spoon from another drawer and mixed her coffee, turning the dark brown liquid into a light creamy elixir. She took a sip and sighed, enjoying the feeling of warmth that spread throughout her being.

"Much better," She whispered to herself.

Ash turned her attention to the bowl and poured it into the frying pan, she used the whisk to swirl it around, scrambling the eggs thoroughly. It was done cooking within about ten minutes, and she turned the burner off, letting the pan keep the eggs warm as she pulled down two plates from yet another cupboard. She grabbed the frying pan and dished out two equal servings. The girl walked over to the sink and ran the pan under water, letting the steam clean off most of the pan before she set it down and turned the water off. She walked back to the plates and her mug of coffee. Ash set one plate on top of her mug and grabbed the other with her free hand and she made her way over to the table. Jason was already seated, having watched the whole sequence. Ash set one plate down in front of him and her mug and other plate down across from him. She went back to the drawer where she had grabbed her mixing spoon and pulled out two forks. Then she walked back to the table, slid a fork to Jason, sat down, and started to eat her breakfast. She remained silent until she had drained the rest of her coffee after finishing her food.

"Ahh," She sighed as she set the mug down.

"You really aren't a morning person, are you?" Jason asked. He had followed her rule to the 'T' and had waited till she was done with her cup of coffee before he spoke to her again.

Ash nodded and ran a hand through her wild red hair. She had forgotten to brush it when she got ready this morning. Not that it mattered entirely, it was going to end up in a ponytail or messy bun by the end of the day anyways.

"Did A'ilarin tell you to do anything today when she woke you up?" She asked casually.

"Nope, just told me to get up and then disappeared." He answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Are we supposed to be doing something today?"

"No clue. I only planned on drawing up some plans for a new saddle for Mer, you'll prolly need one too now that I think about it." She mused. "Then I was just going to buff and polish Mer's scales. He's been complaining about chaffing lately."

"Why do I need a saddle for Feuer? I've flown with him bareback ever since I could fly with him." Jason asked.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I would like to have some pants left when I'm done flying." Ash gave him a pointed look.

Jason glanced down at his torn jeans. They were barely hanging on near the inseam. He sighed. "Yeah, okay, I see your point."

Ash snorted. "Good. I would hate to have to treat whatever abrasions you get between your legs."

Jason blushed just thinking about that situation. Before he could come up with a comeback, Ash continued speaking.

"Though I'm kinda surprised that you haven't had any trouble with riding bareback. How'd you manage long flights when you were with Garrett?" She asked, placing her chin in her hand.

"We didn't." Jason responded simply. "For the most part we stayed in one area, and we didn't go flying very often because we were constantly on the run from the Governments. If we had to travel, I rode double with Garrett." With that, he stood up and made his way outside.

Ash sat there thinking for a few moments. There had to be more to the story than him just escaping from an ambush she assumed. She had noticed that Jason treated the whole thing like it was his fault. She guessed that she was going to have to wait until he was ready to talk about it. She sighed and gathered up the dishes and went to the sink, washing them quickly before making her way outside.

It was a crisp morning and she was glad that she had grabbed the hoodie before leaving her room. Her body was still screaming that it was sore, and she really just wanted to lie around the whole day, but doing that would only make the next day worse. It was best that she kept moving around before she got too stiff.

She jogged over to the paddock where she had trained the day before and set about stretching. As she predicted, it took her a half an hour for to stretch everything out. She was able to move about more freely now that things had loosened up a bit. While she was stretching, Mer had made his way out of the barn, yawning as wide as she had. Now that there was sunlight hitting his scales, she knew that once she had the drawing done for her new saddle that it was going to take the rest of the day in order to get the dirt out between all his scales. She groaned. She had really slacked on his upkeep.

Ash jogged over to the barn and made her way inside, waving at Mer as she passed. She hauled her current saddle outside into the sunlight, then ran back inside to grab a large whiteboard and marker. The whiteboard was as long as she was tall, and it was rather comical as she struggled to bring the thing out into the paddock where she had dropped the saddle.

 _What exactly are you doing, Ash?_ Mer asked as she passed him for the third time.

"Drawing up a plan to make you a new saddle." She said as she rummaged around in the saddle bag to pull out a tape measure. "I realized that what A'ilarin had said last night was right. Eventually we _are_ going to have to leave here. So you will need a new saddle by then, and it is going to take a while for us to get a hold of all the leather and cast the moldings for it."

 _If you say so._ The dragon said as he settled back down to watch her work.

Ash had tied her hair up into a messy bun. She drew out a basic shape onto a corner whiteboard and was switching back and forth from the actual saddle and the board, taking measurements. It was a small diagram of what she had at the moment. Next she started to sketch a new saddle on the rest of the board. It was to have thicker straps for strength, and two more saddle bags for traveling. The actual seat had been raised up since Mer was getting to the point where she could no longer just throw her legs over each side, Ash decided it was time to mimic A'ilarin's raised saddle design. She gave it a slightly higher back that way she could relax while they were flying long distances. Soon enough, her design was finished, and she turned to Mer.

"Alright, big guy. Your turn." She held up the tape measure with a grin.

Mer rolled his eye, but stood up anyways. For the next five or so minutes, she flitted around his frame, taking measurements and running back to the board to write them down.

Mer watched as Jason came out of the woods, followed by Feuer. Ash paid them no mind as she was still concentrating on her work. They walked up and watched her work. By now, she had stripped of her hoodie and was now standing in a baggy t-shirt and leggings. Her hair had fallen down around her face as her bun slumped against the back of her neck. She stood with the marker tucked behind her ear and her hands on her hips as she looked between the board and Mer. After a moment she nodded to herself and took the marker out from behind her ear and capped it before putting it back. She put the tape measure back in her current saddle bag and turned to face the two who had shown up.

"Hey!" She waved a bit in greeting. She picked up an end of the saddle and dragged it over to the side of the barn.

"Yo," Jason said back, placing the bag he had brought with on the ground.

"Did you find everything you need?" Ash asked as she came back for the whiteboard, still not really paying attention to him.

Jason watched in amusement as she carried the large board over to the side of the barn before disappearing inside and returning with a pair of stained leather gloves and bucket.

"We found everything just fine." He answered as she set the bucket down.

"Great," Ash graced him with a small smile before she retied her hair up into a very secure bun. She was not going to let the substance in the bucket get into her hair, the last time that happened, it had bleached her hair up to her shoulders before she noticed and she had to cut it all off.

"So what are you doing?" Jason asked as she tugged the gloves on.

Mer had started to dance in anticipation. He loved to be pampered, and having his scales buffed and oiled was the best.

"Getting ready to give him a bath basically." Ash said as she opened the bucket.

Inside was a large sponge and a paste like substance. She had Mer move to the center of the paddock where he would have room to stand with his wings out eventually.

"Dragons need baths?" Jason asked incredulously.

"Scale maintenance." Ash walked down to his tail and dipped the sponge into the bucket. "They need this from time to time, or else their scales will get dried out and brittle. If things were to go wrong, it could possibly result in an injury. And it takes forever for scales to grow back if they break off."

"Oh," Jason watched as she started to rub the paste on her dragon's tail in circles, slowly working her way up to his hips. "How long does this kind of thing take?"

"Depends on how thorough you are." Ash answered as she dipped the sponge again and climbed up onto Mer's back and started rubbing circles again. "For me, it normally takes most of the day. This stuff has to bake on the dragon for a while before you can hose and towel them off."

Jason continued to watch her as she climbed all over the dragon, rubbing the paste into every nook and cranny she could get her hands on. Then a thought struck him.

"Hey, where's your Rider? I haven't seen her since this morning." He asked.

Ash paused from her work and thought for a moment before shrugging. "She is probably off finding Nyetia or something. I don't know. Finding out her partner had died hit her pretty hard last night, I've never seen her so emotional." She went back to rubbing more circles.

By now she had worked her way to Mer's neck, and he had stretched it out low enough for her to set to work again. She preferred to work on his head last. The buffing paste had a strong smell to it, enough to make her eyes water. For her dragon, he always sneezed when she rubbed it around his nose. Ash didn't want that stuff anywhere near her nose for longer than possible, and neither did Mer. She cautiously rubbed around Mer's eyes, making sure to not let any of the paste get in them. Next she worked on his forehead, making her way down to his snout. She left his nose alone for the time being and rubbed the paste under his jaw up to his chin. The dragon purred loudly, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"You ready, Mer?" She asked. It was time for his nose. The dragon nodded and rubbed circles as quickly as she could before she was sneezed on.

Alas, she wasn't quick enough, and within the next few seconds, Ash found herself covered in dragon snot and surrounded by loud guffaws and snorts from her audience. The stare she gave them could have froze hell over if she wanted it to. At least she was done with the worst part of it. Ash tugged the gloves off and wiped at her face, getting the worst of the mucus away from her eyes.

Mer watched her, slightly amused. _You know, you should have figured out a way to do that before I sneeze all over you._

"Or…you could hold your breath and resist it, you giant snot lizard." Ash snapped at him. She smelled burnt hair and groaned. "You couldn't even keep your fire out of it that time! Jeez, I can't believe you even burnt my hair with that one…"

Jason had yet to stop laughing, he was clutching at his sides for dear life as rolled on the ground. Ash gave Feuer a look, as if he was supposed to control his Rider, before she turned and made her way to the house to shower.

"You better not make Mer move or else you'll be the one to redo it all, Jase." She called over her shoulder.

The threat didn't faze him in the slightest as he managed to gain some control over himself. He picked up his bag and followed after her.

"Oh, come on, would you really do that?" He yelled after her, still giggling.

"Do you doubt me?" She retorted from the stairs.

Jason lugged his bag up the stairs in time to see her shut the door to the bathroom. He snorted a little at the prospect of having to buff out Mer's scales. After watching Ash climb all over him like he was a jungle gym, he doubted that it was really that much of a chore. He dragged his bag into his room and hefted it onto his bed before opening it.

* * *

Jason transfered all of his clothes and other belongings throughout the room. His clothes all fit into the dresser that was stationed next to his closet and his second pair of boots were placed next to the door way. He took out Garrett's memoir and stared at it for a moment. It was the only thing he had left from his mentor, and it was more valuable to him than anything else he owned. He placed it on his nightstand before making sure he had everything out of the bag. Jason took the thing and shoved it under his bed and turned to make his way outside again.

The water was still running when he walked past it. Apparently dragon snot didn't come out very easily. He wouldn't know, he never had to buff out Feuer's scales. When he was traveling with Garrett, they never had the time to spend on scale maintenance and Nova and Feuer both understood that. Being on the run left little time for anything else besides running. Jason found Mer dozing standing up as he waited for Ash to return and wash the paste off. Feuer had even decided it was time for a nap and had laid down next the paddock, away from the silver dragon.

As Jason approached, Feuer cracked an eye and huffed in greeting.

"Hey there," Jason responded, rubbing his dragon's nose.

There had still been no sign from A'ilarin or her dragon. From the way Ash spoke about her mentor, A'ilarin would disappear sometimes and wouldn't return until night fall. As of right now, it was well after noon. It was a strange feeling to have nothing to do, normally he would be at school by now, and that would be his distraction, but since he was here, Jason found himself lost. It put him on edge a little. He wasn't used to just standing idly by as he waited for something to happen.

Before he could dive into further self-exploration, Ash came out of the house in different clothes and had a bandanna warped around her head. She had on another baggy t-shirt and shorts this time instead of leggings. Her hair flowed freely from under the bandanna, still damp from her shower. Jason sat back and watched her work once again, not that there was much to do. She walked around Mercury before sitting down in front of him and began conversing with him softly. Jason didn't eavesdrop as they talked, even though he had enhanced hearing. He believed it was rude and wouldn't help towards getting along with Ash in the future.

* * *

 _Can this stuff come off now?_ Mer whined to Ash

Ash got up and made her way around the dragon, looking to see if the paste had dried thoroughly. For the most part it had except for a few spots on his head and neck.

"A couple for minutes should do it." She said as she sat down in front of him again.

 _I really don't like this stuff._ Her dragon complained.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh huh. You basically begged me for this, why the sudden change of heart?"

 _The smell hurts my nose…_

"Oh, big deal, you say that every time!" Ash exclaimed in frustration. She really did spoil her dragon.

Mer muttered and mumbled incoherently, trying not to move. After a few moments, Ash got up and made her way to the side of the barn where a hose was looped on the ground. She grabbed the open end and unlooped enough of it so she could make her way over to Mer before she turned on the water. It game gushing out, ranging between warm and cool in temperature before it settled on cold.

 _It's about time!_ Mer blinked and watched her. He still wasn't allowed to move until all the paste was gone.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, you giant lizard." Ash muttered as she took her shoes and socks off.

She made her way to Mer's head and started to run the water over his nose first so he could breathe a little easier. She rubbed her hands over his head as she worked, wiping away the paste that had dried. Soon enough there were silver scales shining back at her. Ash worked backwards from when she first applied the paste, moving in the direction that the scales faced. The paste fell away and soon Mer was able to freely move about. His scales shined brightly in the afternoon sun.

Once she was done with the hose, Ash turned it off and wound it back up again. Then she walked into the barn for nth time that day and grabbed the scale oil. The paste does the job of getting all the dirt and grime off of dragon scales, but it did leave them dried out, hence the reason why she needed the oil. It provided some lubrication, allowing dragons to move about more freely. Normally, dragons would pair up and bathe themselves, helping each other out, but a Rider's dragon didn't have another dragon that would do that for them, since they never bonded with another dragon. They were completely devoted to their Rider and did not have the sense of a nest like wild dragons did or actively seek out a mate. Paired Riders were the exception. Their dragons formed a strong sibling like bond, but it isn't the same bond as nest-mates, and the duty of scale care fell still onto the Riders.

Ash grabbed a rag from the coat rack near the entrance and made her way outside again. Mer was happily flexing his wings that he had to hold out for an hour at least. She stopped in front of him and poured some oil onto the rag, saturating it. Mer was oblivious as he continued to flap his wings, creating an uneven breeze.

"Oi, you big scaly lizard!" She called out getting his attention. "I need your head down on my level if you want to finish this."

Ash heard a snort from Jason. He was currently lounging on the ground next to Feuer who was fast asleep, basking in the sun.

Ash just rolled her eyes and focused on her eyes on what she was doing. Mer had lowered his head after engulfing her in a plume of dragon smoke.

"You do realize I just showered thirty minutes ago, right? Now I'm gonna smell like your bad breath for the rest of the day." She grumbled at her dragon as she rubbed the oil in his scales.

Mer chuckled and only blew more smoke at her in response. She just rolled her eyes and continued to work. After another hour of rubbing the oil into his scales, she was finally done with her chore. Ash wrong out the rag, causing the excess oil to drip onto the ground.

"There finally done," She said as she slapped the rag over her shoulder.

"It's about damn time too." Jason said walking up to her. He crossed his arms. "I was so bored." He drawled.

"Tch, you could have done same for Feuer." She retorted.

"Nah, too much work." But he was ignored as Ash made her way over to Jason's dragon, inspecting him.

"He could use it, too." Ash said as she walked around him slowly.

Jason shrugged as he stood at Feuer's head. "We didn't have the time before. Or the stuff when we were by ourselves."

Ash looked at him for a moment before shrugging it off. "No matter, we can take care of it tomorrow. It'll take most of the day though, Feuer's bigger than Mer by atleast a foot in length."

"Sure, why not." Jason said.

Ash turned and faced the woods. They had gone most of the day without hearing or seeing A'ilarin and Nyetia, and she was starting to get slightly worried. Ash made her way to the middle of the paddock and sat down on a dry spot, preparing to meditate.

Jason had followed her and sat across from her. "What are you doing?" He was like a small child today with so many questions.

"Meditating. I haven't sensed A'ilarin or Nyetia all day." She explained shortly.

"And what does meditating accomplish? Just reach out with our mind like normal." Jason said, plopping his elbow on his knee and slouching to let his chin fall into his hand.

"Meditating allows me to have a greater range than normal." Ash said evenly. Her breaths were starting to slow as she relaxed into her position.

"That is so impractical. How can you use that when you are in the middle of flying?" Jason asked, slowing her process down each time he spoke.

Ash but back a nasty retort and took a deep breath before she spoke again. "It is not impractical. It allows me to improve my range over time. Now shut up and be quiet."

Jason had his mouth open, ready to ask another question, but he snapped it shut at her tone. She continued to breathe in and out in a regular pattern before she seemed to slump inwards. Jason felt her presence everywhere as she expanded it outwards.

Ash stretched as far as she could, looking anywhere and everywhere for her mentor and her dragon. She could see Jason's light right in front of her, burning a bright orange. Mer's was a silvery blue, and Feuer's was a dark orange. Further out into the forest, she felt the nature life pause as her presence brushed past them in her search for A'iarin. She was able to reach past their property line and there still wasn't any sign of her mentor. Giving up on the ground, she focused on the sky. Within moments she was able to locate her mentor circling about their property line a mile or two above the trees. Ash sighed with relief as she returned to herself, satisfied that her mentor was okay.

"Did you find them?" Jason asked with a tilt of his head, causing some of his hair to fall into his eyes.

Ash pointed to the sky and swirled her finger around. "She's patrolling. She'll be back in a couple more hours."

"Wait, what? Patrolling? Why?" Jason prattled off a list of questions as Ash stood up and stretched.

"Yeah, patrolling. We do that so no one sneaks up on us. She did say that she has been keeping the Governments from finding us for this whole time." She said as she straightened up.

Her stomach grumbled and looked up at the sun to gauge the time. It was around supper time. "Can you help me with making dinner?" She asked suddenly.

Jason whirled and met her eyes. He seemed to be taken aback from her sudden question and hesitated.

Ash sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess you don't have to if you don't want to. It'd be the nice thing to do." She turned and walked back to the house.

Jason scrambled to his feet and jogged to catch up with her. "No, I can help, though I'm not much use in the kitchen." He said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"You can't be that bad." Ash scoffed as they entered the kitchen.

* * *

She was proven wrong within five minutes of preparing their evening meal. Ash didn't know how someone could mess up cutting vegetables, but Jason had somehow done just that. She immediately kicked him out and sat him down at the table where he was out of the way before he could damage anything else further.

Jason, on the other hand was content to sit back and watch the girl work, like he had been all day. Her hair had become a curly mess where it escaped the bandanna she still wore, and it reminded him of her stormy temper, sunny one moment and thundering the next.

 _You're staring._ Feuer said, jumping into his thoughts.

Jason flinched and turned away, blushing lightly. _Was not,_ he muttered back.

 _Were to. You like her hair._ The dragon remarked. _You know that you can't really hide anything from me._

 _So?_

 _Isn't it a bit early to go falling for someone? You don't really know if she will make it as soon as the Riders fight for their place in the world again. That war will happen within our lifetimes._ Damn his dragon and his logic.

 _I haven't fallen for her. I don't plan on it. Too much risk._ He said darkly, warning his dragon that if he said anymore on it there would be hell to pay for it.

Jason heard his dragon snap his teeth, but Feuer didn't say any more about it. He blocked out his dragon for the time being, and turned to watch Ash work her way through the kitchen, moving like a summer storm. He felt that in anything she did, she left a trail behind her, unintentional or not.

 _I wouldn't be surprised if she had an affinity to weather magic_ , He mused to himself. Sure, once she had harnessed her magic, they would begin on materializing it in a form she was naturally attuned with. He simply had a gut instinct that it would be weather magic. Maybe even lightening, once she was good enough.

He, himself, had always been attuned with fire, even Garrett had joked that he had been a pyro before Feuer hatched into his life. Jason sighed and dropped his head into his head, feeling nostalgic all of the sudden. Ash was still clanking around the kitchen, preparing a stew. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't noticed the wump of wings that signaled A'ilarin's return. Jason didn't get up to greet the Rider, still caught up in his thoughts. Soon enough, his thoughts took him to his last night with Garrett, and he forced himself back to reality. He still wasn't ready to delve into that topic, even after three years.

A'ilarin walked into the house and found Ash bustling around in the kitchen and Jason sulking at the table.

"So why aren't you helping make dinner?" A'ilarin was sure that she had taught Ash that everyone was to help with the evening meal, even though it had only been the two of them for the past twelve years.

"Oh no! If we let him into the kitchen to make something, we won't have a kitchen to work with!" Ash yelled from said room. "He stays out!"

A'ilarin chuckled when Jason glowered at the girl. "What did he do exactly?" She asked.

"I don't know how he managed it but somehow he managed to mess up cutting the vegetables for the stew. There are scorch marks on the cutting board! How does that even work? He was as far away from the stove as he could get and the thing was lit on fire!" She exclaimed.

She wasn't exaggerating either.

"I'm sorry?" A'ilarin sputtered. "He did what?"

"He caught the cutting board on fire and burnt three carrots!"

A'ilarin turned and stared at Jason, amusement lighting up her emerald eyes. Jason simply avoided looking at either of them and tried burning a hole in the wall with his glare from embarrassment.

A'ilarin could only chuckle, by the gods these two were going to make an interesting pair was putting it kindly. She made her way into the kitchen and set about helping Ash with finishing the rest of their dinner.

Once everything was close to being finished, A'ilarin convinced Ash that it was fine for Jason to come into the kitchen to grab bowls and silverware for the table. Jason muttered something about her over reacting to one slip in the kitchen and that resulted with him getting hit over the head with a wooden spoon.

"What was that for!?" He said, cowering away from the weapon, clutching his head.

Ash just smirked at him evilly before turning back to the stew. Jason kept his mouth shut, but grumbled like a dragon as he set about finding the bowls and silverware. A'ilarin helped with pointing things out to him and soon enough he had what he needed and retreated from the kitchen before he caused another fire or worse, got whacked on the head with that dreaded spoon Ash was wielding.

After setting the table for the three of them, he sat in a chair and continued to mope. He couldn't exactly admit to the fact that his fire magic wasn't exactly under his control yet. With school in the way, he didn't exactly have the time to practice with it. Jason snapped his fingers and a spark caught on his first finger. He watched the small flame dance at the tip, letting it settle for a moment before he started to roll it around his hand. He flicked it between his fingers, careful to not let it get out of control. Fire magic was volatile when the user didn't respect it, a fact that he conveniently forgot at the most inopportune times. The orange flame settled into his palm, casting a warm glow over his hand.

"That explains how the cutting board caught fire." A'ilarin said from the doorway to the kitchen.

Jason jumped and nearly let the flame fall to the table, but he caught it and cradled it between his two hands. He carefully cupped his hands and blew it out so he could focus on A'ilarin.

"Yeah, it got away from me." He admitted, a little ashamed.

A'ilarin noticed the look in his eyes and caught on. "It's nothing to be ashamed about. Magic is a hard concept to grasp for some, even I had trouble studying it." She said as she sat down at the table, pacing a hot mat in the center. "You are so young and still learning. Do not be embarrassed by your lack of control at some moments."

Jason just nodded. Garrett had never made fun of him either for his lack of control when they found that he had fire magic. Garrett was only able to teach him the basics of magic considering that was all the Rider could handle with his level of magical affiliation. Jason noted that A'ilarin only had a little bit more magic than Garrett, but it still wasn't enough to be useful in a fight.

"From what I understand, fire is one of the few elements linked with emotions, and if your emotions get away from you, the magic will as well. A very difficult magic to control for anyone." A'ilarin tapped her fingers rhythmically on the table. Ash was still waiting for the stew to finish so she was still in the kitchen, oblivious to the conversation at the table. "Did Garrett teach you to meditate?" She asked eventually.

Jason shook his head. "Garrett was of the belief that it took up too much time and just got in the way of things." He said, watching the doorway for Ash.

A'ilarin followed his gaze and scoffed at her late partner's opinion. "So he was still like that till he died, huh?" She smirked and turned to look back at Jason. "It only feels like a waste of time if you do not practice it, enough to the point that it is beyond a habit. Garrett was never able to reap the benefits from meditation. He was simply too impatient by nature. But that was merely a side effect of the magic he was once able to wield before the war."

"He mentioned that he used to be able to have some control over lightening." Jason recalled. "But I could feel that his magic reserves were far too small in order to completely master."

A'ilarin shook her head. "He was a master over it." Ash walked to the table with a pot full of stew. "But that is a discussion for another time."

"What's a discussion for another time?" Ash asked as she took the lid off the pot of stew.

The smell wafted over to Jason and his mouth watered. It smelled delicious. He decided that if he was going to be banished from the kitchen whenever Ash cooked, he'd let her. And he hadn't even tasted the stew yet!

A'ilarin answered, clearly Jason was too busy trying not to drool to speak. "Nothing for you to worry your head over, Ashley."

Ash gave them a critical look and huffed. She began to serve the stew into the bowls that were placed on the table. Once she was done, she raced back into the kitchen and grabbed the rolls that were on the counter. She brought them back to the table and served everyone once again before finally sitting down herself.

"By the way, what that drawing that was sitting outside of the barn today?" A'ilarin asked, ignoring her food for the moment.

"Oh? That's my new saddle design. Mer grew again, so if or when we leave, we are going to need a new one. That old saddle is on its last legs anyways." Ash said. She blew on her spoon before tasting her creation.

"Well, it seems we are going to have to visit my equipment master within the next couple of days, aren't we?" A'ilarin mused as she too took a sip of the stew.

Ash's creased her brow. "You have an equipment master here?"

A'ilarin nodded. "They are from a family that has remained close to mine over the years. I visit every once and awhile to make sure that they do not worry over me." She took a bit of her roll, chewed and swallowed before continuing. "They live on the other side of the forest, almost in the next town over. They should be able to make your saddle within a week's time if we get it to them tomorrow night."

Ash and Jason just stared. They had been under the impression that no one outside of the Riders support the Riders. After years of being hunted, it was hard to believe that anyone would take their side and face the anger of the Governments.

A'ilarin stared back the two before gesturing at their forgotten food with her spoon. "You two better eat up, or else your food will get cold."

That shook them out of their stupor. Everyone dug in. The food was delicious and Jason was on his second bowl before Ash or A'ilarin had even eaten half of what was served to them.

"Hungry much?" Ash watched in amazement at how fast he was putting the food away.

Jason swallowed before answering. "I've been rationing food for the past year or so. This is the first full meal I have had since then."

Ash took in how his face seemed gaunt, like he had been going without food for atleast a month or two now. Whereas Feuer looked as healthy as Mer. Ash could only assume that he had been giving most of their food to the gray and orange dragon. She immediately felt guilty for pointing out how fast he was eating and turned to her food, not giving a response.

The rest of the night was fairly domestic, their spoons clanking against their bowls as they ate, with the occasional growl from their dragons outside. It mostly came from Mer since he had some pent up energy and had tried to take it out on the other two dragons in the yard. Neither were having it and quickly put him in his place each time he tried to get them riled up.

After Ash had finished her bowl, only able to stomach one, trying to let Jason get as much food as he could, she made her way back into the kitchen. She knew that her mouth was going to get the best of her someday, and today, she felt that she had let it go too far. Even if Jason didn't seem to have taken offense by her little quip. Ash made her over to the sink and prepared to do the dishes for the night. She hadn't made too big of a mess making the stew, and there was still some left over for a couple more days for all three of them, as long as Jason didn't eat three bowls at a time. The girl sighed as the sink filled with water, leaning against the edge of it and stared out the window.

She could barely see Mer out there bounding around like a puppy trying to get the attention of the other two dragons. She smirked at her dragon. He embodied her playful attitude, though as of late, she hadn't had much to laugh about. Ash checked the sink and turned off the water. She dribbled some soap onto a sponge and began the chore of doing the dishes. Lately, she had noticed that she wasn't as quick to laugh with or at Mer in his antics. Even at school, she rarely went beyond a grin in her amusement. Now she knew why Kate and Jason had seemed surprised when she had her outburst the last time they were all on the bus together.

A'ilarin came to the sink a few minutes after Ash had gotten started and noticed her melancholy demeanor. Apparently it was her duty to be the sage of wisdom tonight. Why were teenagers so hard on themselves?

She put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You weren't rude." She said.

Ash's shoulders slumped. "That doesn't mean that I wasn't insensitive though. I keep forgetting that he has been living on his own for the past three years." She said quietly.

A'ilarin squeezed her shoulder. "You'll get used to it. He hides it well. Soon enough it won't be that way. Eventually he will open up to us."

Ash gave her mentor a grateful look over her shoulder before returning to the dishes in the sink.

"By the way, tell Mercury that he needs to stop antagonizing Nyetia and Feuer before they lose their tempers. They are quite close to sending him through the barn. And I for one do not want our horses injured."

Ash snapped her attention to the dragons she could see in the yard. In the darkness, all she could really see was Mer, and right at the point, Feuer shot a jet of flame at him, telling him off once again.

 _Goddammit Mer! Leave them alone!_ She scolded.

Her dragon turned to look at the house. _But I'm borreeedd…_ He whined, his wings drooping.

 _I don't care if you're bored! They're about ready to take your head off if you don't leave them alone. Go to bed or something._ Ash slammed some dishes into the drying rack.

 _Everyone is in a foul mood tonight…_ Mer muttered.

Ash sighed and wiped her hands on a towel. The sink was draining but she was done with the dishes that were in the kitchen, Jason was still eating.

 _I am not in a foul mood, just tired._ Ash explained.

She poked her head outside of the kitchen to see if Jason had finished yet. By now he was on his fourth bowl or stew.

"Hey, when you're done, make sure that you wash your dishes. I'm heading out to let Mer burn off energy." She as she made her way to the door, grabbing her hoodie off the coatrack.

"Oh, hey, I just finished. I'll come with. Feuer seemed bored." Jason said quickly as he stood up. Ash just smirked and made her way outside.

Ash walked up to the dragons and shooed Mer away from Nyetia, who was snarling at the dragon.

"You, stay here and don't move." She said. She pointed a finger at Mer before turning and heading to the barn.

Ash was looking for her riding pants so she didn't have to go through the whole process of putting on the saddle. The pants were simply jeans with extra leather lining the inside and back of the legs. She found them in a heap near Mer's stall in the back and quickly changed into them. The redhead was exiting the barn as Jason came jogging out.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Yeah, but aren't you going to but that saddle on Mercury?" Jason asked, pointing to the worn hunk of leather by the barn door.

Ash shook her head. "Nah, it'd take too much time to get it on and off of him."

"But won't you…" He trailed off as he noticed that she had changed into pants. "Where'd you get those?"

Ash had walked over to Mer and climbed up his shoulder, sitting down side-saddle. "They were a hand-me-down from A'ilarin." And with that, Mer took off.

She snorted as she heard Jason shout at her for not waiting. Mer continued to rise through the air until they were a few miles high. Within a few moments, Jason and Feuer joined them as they soared through the night sky. Mer angled over to Feuer so that they were flying right next to each other. Ash just smirked at Jason as he pouted from being left behind. He looked like such a little kid when he did that. Ash giggled quietly to herself.

 _Feeling better yet, Mer?_ Ash rubbed the side of his neck, feeling his strong muscles working.

 _A little. Standing around all day was boring, even if I was having my scales worked on._ The dragon let a plume of smoke go, catching her full in the face because of the wind.

Ash waved a hand, dispersing some of the smoke. _Yeah, yeah. Take however long you need, big guy. Just no aerial maneuvers. I don't feel like sky diving tonight._

Mer huffed, but continued to fly straight, only shifting his position in the air to angle back around the house. Ash removed her bandana and left her hair fly free in the wind. She tied it around her neck instead, trying to keep some of her warmth in. It took them about an hour before Mer decided he had enough of flying for the night and stooped into a shallow dive to land behind the house. After moment or two, Feuer landed beside them and both their Riders jumped off.

Ash scratched Mer at the corner of his jaw when he lowered his head to nuzzle her. The dragon purred and she muttered a goodnight before making her way to the house, Jason following after her. They walked into a dark house, the only light coming from the stair well. A'ilarin had gone to bed, exhausted from her flight. The teenagers were quiet and made their way to their rooms, muttering quiet goodnights before turning in for the night.

* * *

 **AN: I hope all of you enjoyed this chap! I had fun writing the relationship between Jason and Ash. Ash, when she is herself is a little bundle of sass, and Jason is pretty forced to go along with her, but he enjoys it.**

 **Any who.. this should be the last chapter for a few day. I pretty much spoiled all of you by giving you six (Yes, SIX) chapters today. I literally had nothing to do today besides write and edit everything. I'm still a couple chapters ahead but hopefully, it'll stay that way so updates won't be too far in between.**

 **Happy Holidays everyone!**

 **Please R &R!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey I'm back! Sorry for the really long delay. After my back surgery, I slipped down the stairs and fractured my tailbone, so I was hyped up on more pain killers. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a clutz. You don't have to tell me.**

 **This chapter was kind of a butt to write. It really didn't to go anywhere, and I wanted it to be of decent length too. Plus Word kept crashing so about half way through this chapter I had to rewrite basically the last half of it. It was really quite frustrating since I was really starting to hit my groove right around then each time it happened...gr.**

 **Anyways... I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 13

The next day, Jason was woken up and forced to attend school. A'ilarin was quite adamant about making sure that Ashley was left at the house while he continued about everything normally. When Ash had finally rolled out of bed, it was nearly midday. So much for trying to sneak off to school to try to explain things to Kate.

Ash rubbed her hands over her face and sat cross legged on her bed, the blankets pooling around her waist. She had really wanted to explain things in person to Kate rather than over the phone, or even second hand through Jason, but it looked like she had no choice in the matter now.

Her phone was located on her desk, and she got off of the mattress to make her way over to it.

The phone was full of notifications from her friend, most of them were quite angry that she had not bothered to talk to her the whole day yesterday, and for skipping out on her again today. Ash sighed and started to sift through all the ranting her friend had sent her. Once she got to the latest of the virtual tirade, Kate turned into a depressed puddle and there were quite a few crying faces interspersed within her words. It looked like Jason had broken the news to her, and probably not in the easiest way either.

Ash sent her a quick text to tell her to call her once she was home that way they could talk about it more. Her friend really deserved to have a better explanation given to her than what Jason would ever be able to do. The redhead sighed and leaned against her desk, running a hand through her bedhead and untangled her mane of hair a little. She stared out the window, losing herself to her thoughts for the first time it felt like in days.

It was a good thing that Jason had turned out to be a Rider. She had been worried for a while now that she and A'ilarin had been the last ones in this part of the world, and she dreaded having to leave and find more. As much as A'ilarin made it seem like they weren't going to leave over the years, the conversation they had the other night just confirmed her hunch. She had no idea where they were going to go, but they had to go somewhere. How in the hell were they going to find an Elder anywhere close to them? Did they not have this unbelievable amount of magic running through them that made it easy for the Governments to find them? It would not be a surprise to her to eventually find out that they were all gone and they were left to fend for themselves. Even if she, A'ilarin, and Jason were the last Riders in the world, they still had a strong chance of being able to survive in the shadows of the world for the rest of their lives. But at the same time, with Jason coming in the picture, it proved that there were more than just the three Riders left in the world. Who's to say that an Elder really had survived the war?

Ash jumped slightly when her phone buzzed with Kate's response. The message confirmed their discussion for the night. Ash had no idea how it was going to go, but knowing Kate, it was going to be full of more emotions than Ash knew how to deal with. One of the downsides of living with another Rider: emotions were hard to come by. A'ilarin wasn't necessarily emotionless, but she kept a tight lid on things,and Ash could honestly count on one hand how many times A'ilarin had lost her temper when Ash was being stubborn. The night Ash came back with Jason in tow had been one of those very few times that Ash had seen her lose control. But compared to that, normal society was an emotional war front. Even in a little over a month that Ash attended school, she was never able to get how anyone could continue to exhibit so many feelings in one day. It had been exhausting for her to try to fake being a normal school girl, and even then she failed. Kate and Jason always made sure to point out that her expressions were lack luster and it made it obvious the redhead had no idea what she was doing. She knew they were only doing it help her blend in, since being the new girl was never easy, it still made things harder to try to appear normal. Eventually, things had appeared more natural, but Ash never really tried to force anything again. It made her appear emotionless, and the rest of the school population ignored her for it, but she had been happy enough to have two people to atleast look past that fault of hers.

The girl shoved off her desk and got dressed for the day, deciding that she had enough of dwelling on school. Nothing was going to change now considering A'ilarin was pulling her out of the place. She chose to change in to comfortable clothes, not knowing if A'ilarin planned to have another training session today.

Once she was dressed, she made her way downstairs to find A'ilarin reading an old text at the dining room table. Notes were splayed out across the table here and there, her handwriting scribbled across the pages. The text looked ancient, something far older than A'ilarin had ever cared to teach her. It was more than likely a language that went back to the Elders.

"So, what's the research for?" Ash asked after a moment.

A'ilarin looked up from the large book, a little surprised that her student had snuck up her, before looking back down to continue her notes.

"Just double checking some information." She answered. Her pen continued across the page that she had been working on before Ash had spoken.

"And what's that?" Ash sat down at the table and picked up a page to examine it. She definitely had no idea what it said. The language appeared to the girl as lines and lines of scribbles and dots.

"This is an old journal from an Elder. It was given to me before the war was started." The pen continued to scratch away.

"Really?" Ash quirked a brow. "Why would they give you something so personal?"

The pen paused. "The Elder who gave this to me was the one who trained Garrett and I while we were in the academy. It was given to me well before the war started. I have a feeling that there is something within in this journal that will help us find them, if not, another Elder."

Ash looked up at her mentor. Did this Elder have some type of clairvoyance? How could they possibly know that A'ilarin would need this book now?

"How would they know that you would need this?" She asked.

"I was never able to understand how the Elders were able to predict when anyone would need anything. You learned to just accept it."

Ash scrunched her brows. "Doesn't that seem like a really old way of thinking? Shouldn't you've been able to ask what it was about?"

"Oh, yes, you were able to ask questions, but it was completely up to the Elder to answer your question." A'ilarin turned a page in the journal, and paused to read it through before she began to take any notes again.

Ash huffed, scrunching her nose at the way the Elders taught. "Is that how they all taught? 'Cause, frankly if they teach like that, things aren't going to go well."

A'ilarin quirked an eyebrow. "For the most part, they taught by example. Explanation was only needed when magic was involved. Magic theory was and still is a difficult concept to grasp right away."

"But you know that I hate those cryptic answers that you give me sometimes. Those never worked." Ash let her head fall into her hand once more as she watched her teacher take notes.

"I'm well aware, Ash," A'ilarin said. A few minutes passed before she finally put her pen down. "Go get something to eat. I will start to teach you the basic concepts of magic."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Isn't Jason supposed to be teaching me about magic?" she asked.

"Yes, but even he does not know that basic concepts. Garrett went straight into manifestation of magic. Jason is great with being able to manifest fire, but he will also need training on these concepts as well. For right now, I will teach you while he is at school, and then I will leave you to practice what I have taught you while I am teaching him." A'ilarin stood up and gathered her notes from the table.

Ash made her way into the kitchen and prepared herself a light breakfast, or lunch considering the time of day. The coffee pot was still full, and Ash silently thanked A'ilarin for leaving pot running. She poured herself a mug and mixed in her amount of sugar and milk before finally taking a sip. Ash knew that if she wanted to stay awake during the lessons she was going to receive, she was going to need this and possibly a second cup in order to not fall asleep while A'ilarin was talking. Ash was a person of action and sitting around, and just listening to someone had always bored her, despite finding the topic interesting. Going to school had proven no different and she found herself on more than one occasion be woken up by her friends in the middle of class.

Ash finished her food and poured herself a second mug of coffee before she made her way outside to see Mer. She found the silver dragon lazing about in the paddock, enjoying the fall sun. Feuer was over in the shade of the woods, deeming the sun too warm on his dark scales.

 _Hey big guy,_ Ash said as she walked up to him with her mug carried in both of her hands.

Mer cracked open an eye and watched her approach. _Good afternoon. Sleep enough?_ He goaded.

Ash scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out at him. _I would have woken up sooner if someone had bothered to wake me._

 _A'ilarin told us not to wake you up._ The silver dragon raised his head and huffed at her. _Something about keeping you here instead of sneaking off to school. Who knew that you were one to want to learn,_ he chuckled.

Ash scoffed and took a sip of her coffee. _I just wanted to tell Kate that I wouldn't be showing up anymore. It would have been better if I told her instead of Jason doing it,_ she muttered irritably.

Mer lowered his head, nuzzling her shoulder with his nose, careful to not make her spill her coffee. He knew how much she had wanted to go and explain things to her friend. Ash had always been the type of person to want to do things right by people, despite them always writing her off. She always tried to make everyone around her happy even though she came off as cold and uncaring.

 _As much as I would like to just stand around while you enjoy your coffee, A'ilarin is waiting for you in the dining room. And it smells like she brought down some really old books. Hope you're ready to learn today,_ the dragon purred.

Ash rolled her eyes before giving him a scratch underneath his chin. _Thanks for the heads up, you giant lizard,_ she said with a smirk. She spun on her heel and walked back towards the house before he could let loose a stream of smoke at her for the insult.

Ash made her way into the house once more and quickly noted that Mer had been right about the old books, she could smell the dust from the kitchen where the back door was located. She drained the rest of her coffee and set the mug down on the counter as she walked into the dining room. The table was piled high with books, most if not all sported a thick layer of dust. Some of that dust was swirling around in the air from when they had been dropped onto the table, causing Ash's now sensitive nose to make her sneeze. Multiple times.

Eyes watering from the onslaught of sneezing so many times, Ash sat down in her normal seat and pushed some of the texts away from her. A'ilarin appeared carrying three more books and she set them down on the table, hard enough to evoke another wave of dust to tumble off of the many stacks there and forcing Ash into another sneezing fit. A'ilarin smirked at her student when the sneezing was all said and done and Ash's head rested on the table. Ash was certain that her newly acquired heightened senses were going to be the death of her. Then again, she was only recently introduced to them a month ago when A'ilarin had forced her study up on them, so she was only noticing them more and more.

"Are you ready, or do you need to go take some allergy medicine?" A'ilarin asked, a small grin upon her lips.

Ash pulled her head up from the table to and looked over at her teacher. "Maybe if these books had been dusted off before you pulled them out, I wouldn't be in this condition."

Smack!

Ash pulled her head off of the table once more and rubbed the back of her head, the spot where her teacher had decided was a good place to hit her with the spine of one of the books on the table. The redhead had forgotten that her sarcasm went unappreciated during her lessons at home.

"Go get a notebook from your room, you're going to need it." A'ilarin cracked open the book she had used on Ash's head and started to flip through the pages without so much as a glance at the girl.

Grumbling, Ash stood up and made her way to her room. She grabbed a fairly empty notebook, the pages in the back were full of small doodles. Originally it had been for her history class, but the class had proven to simply regurgitate what A'ilarin had taught her when she was younger, only with more emphasis on the Governments. By the time Ash came back down the stairs, A'ilarin had opened a few of the books and were comparing some of the diagrams that were displayed on the pages.

"Please tell me I am not going to have to redraw those. 'Cuz nobody has time for that," Ash moaned. She dropped her notebook on the table and flipped open the cover, clicking her pen, and already starting to doodle on the first page.

"If you have the time to doodle in your notebook, you have the time to copy these magic circles." A'ilarin snapped. She had forgotten how exhausting it could be to try to teach Ash anything, and they hadn't even begun the first lesson yet.

Ash immediately stopped doodling in her notebook and focused on A'ilarin, her pen clattering onto the table in her haste to put it down. A'ilarin rubbed a temple with one hand, attempting to massage the tension out of it.

"You understand the reason why I had you meditating and expanding your mind every day, correct?" she asked after a moment of silence had spread between them.

Ash nodded. "Something about it allowing more access to my magic, and more control right?" Ash was a good study, if she ever put in the effort to remember some of the finer details that A'ilarin taught her over the years.

"Yes, for the most part," A'ilarin said, starting to pace back and forth on the other side of the table form Ash. "Overall, meditation is a focusing technique that the Riders use in order to stabilize their magical containers. It takes a great amount of mental power to be able to wield magic effectively, without causing harm to those surrounding you. Until now, you have been using it as a way for reflection on your lessons, or that is how I have taught you how to use it. But now we will be using it for different reasons entirely."

Ash picked up her pen as A'ilarin continued to list off the reasons how her meditation was going to change. She wouldn't put it past her teacher to quiz her randomly about something as trivial as this.

"The first change is going to be that you will begin to draw energy from everything around you. Plant life, the wildlife that inhabit the woods, anything that surrounds you.

"The second change is going to be teaching you how to steadily release this energy. This is quite important. You need to know what your limits are, and pushing your boundaries will help you learn how much energy you can spend at any moment's times. It will help you to avoid magical exhaustion as much as possible. It is not fool proof by any means, but it will help."

Ash cleared her throat to get A'ilarin's attention. "Is that the same as manifestation? Or am I just pushing energy out at this point?" she asked.

A'ilarin paused and thought for a brief moment about her question, tapping her pen against her chin. "It is a good question. The last step is where we focus more on the manifestation of your inherited magic, but it could happen while we are working on finding your limits."

The older Rider turned back to the table and ran a finger along one of the stacks of books on the table, reading the titles until she found the one that she needed. She pulled it out of the stack and placed it on top, gently as to not send her student into another sneezing fit. A'ilarin opened the book, the spine cracking with old age, and started to flip through the pages quickly until she found what she was looking for.

"It says here, that it is not advised to start manifesting your natural magic until you have found your limits. Most Riders do not actually reach the point in their studies to start manifestation simply because they cannot withstand the amount of energy they need to expend in order to use it. You and Jason are natural born prodigies, therefore this second step will be quite easy for you. It will be taxing but it is necessary," she explained, running her finger down one of the pages as she spoke.

Ash propped her head up in her hand. "It makes sense, I guess," she muttered, mostly to herself. A thought came to her and she sat up straight once more. "If most Riders can't get to the second step, does that mean you won't be able to show me how to do it? Or long enough for me to understand what you are doing?"

A'ilarin looked up from the book with a small frown upon her face. She pushed a lock of her brown hair behind her ear to keep it from swinging into her eyes. "I should be able to give you a brief demonstration when we get to that point. If not, Jason possibly could, it depends on what Garrett had taught him before they were separated." A'ilarin closed the book she had most recently opened and moved back to pacing.

"Now, back to the last part. Manifestation is the last part of magical training that meditation can offer. It will allow you call forth your natural magic and have it surround you, much like your aura does already, just in physical form. At this point, the color of your aura will give us a good representation of what your natural magic will be." A'ilarin pushed a book that was full of diagrams pertaining to many different recordings of inherited magics from Riders over the centuries. "Here, we will be mostly learning from this today. The descriptions should help us narrow down our search about what magic you might have."

From there, the next few hours filled Ash's head with magic circles and color descriptions. None of which sounded like hers. Stormy purple with the occasional white streak? Good luck finding that. Nothing of what they read together came close to even describing a storm. There were the lightening and wind magics, and the occasional water and rain user, but nothing that held it all together like a raging storm would. When they had gone through the first book, A'ilarin pulled out another, which had even more descriptions and instructed Ash to read from it for the rest of the night.

* * *

Jason walked into the house nearly an hour later, finding Ash amongst the piles of books on the table when he walked into the dining room. The piles had been arranged around her to hide that she was either doodling in her notebook or napping. Currently she was doodling in her notebook after finding that the book she was instructed to read held much of the same information she had just poured over with A'ilarin earlier. But he could not see that. Jason continued to stand in the doorway as he tried to process the image of Ash studying anything. His time with her at school had proven that she was incredibly smart and well versed in picking up new languages, so he never had the opportunity to hear her grumble and complain about studying anything. Scratch that. He heard her grumble to herself throughout history, and that was justified most of the time since a lot of the information they were fed as public school students was Government standard teachings. For the most part, he was the only one that knew she was saying things to herself, but his hearing was not developed enough in order to decipher her words amongst the other whispers of students and the lecturing of the teacher.

"Are you going to stand there all night, or what?"

Ash's voice shook him out of his thoughts and Jason moved to take a seat at the table, shoving one of the piles of books out of the way.

"Nah, just trying to process the thought of you studying," he said with a grin as he set his backpack on the ground.

Ash wrinkled her nose. "Me studying isn't anything new."

"Sure, sure. Here it isn't, but at school? You might as well be the laziest person there. How you managed to get good grades is beyond me." He let his head fall into his hand.

"Pfft, that's ridiculous."

"Says the person who doodles or naps her way through class," Jason said caustically. "What Kate sees in you must be pretty good, considering she hardly tolerates me."

Ash swiped a hand through her hair and gave him a glare. "Yeah, thanks for talking to Kate, by the way. She was absolutely thrilled to find out that I am 'moving' once again." Her tone was dripping with sarcasm.

Jason raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, she asked me what was going on with you because you wouldn't answer your phone. So I told her the story that we agreed on."

"Couldn't you have done it better though?" Ash asked exasperated. "My phone had died last night and when I finally got the chance to turn it back on, it went crazy. It wouldn't stop going off for five minutes because she blew up my phone 'cause you told her I wasn't coming back to school."

"That's your fault for not taking care of your phone."

The glare the redhead gave the boy could have lit something on fire. "Urrghh, fine. Whatever," she grumbled as she turned back to the book that had been opened in front of her.

She scratched a few more notes here and there as she flipped through the book, looking for anything that could possibly help her understand what kind of magic she inherited. But Jason seemed intent on distracting her. Not that she was really paying attention to her studies anyways.

"But seriously, how did you keep your grades up when all you did was slack off?" he asked.

Ash shrugged her shoulders and scratched more notes down. "Dunno, A'ilarin taught me a bunch of stuff. She was kind of a slave driver, too."

The moment she had said that, said Rider walked through the dining room entrance carrying yet another book. "If I hadn't been a slave driver as you put it so nicely, Ashley, you wouldn't have learned half of what I needed to teach you."

Ash puffed out a breath of air, lifting her bangs off of her face in her annoyance. "That's a load of bull. I could have totally done everything you needed me to without all the extra assignments."

"Coming from the girl who would ride off on her dragon and explore the woods until the sun went down. You needed every extra lesson you received." A'ilarin set the book down on the table.

Ash grumbled under her breath but did not say anything outright to her teacher. She was trying to avoid another hit to the head with any of the books in front of her. There had been at least three times where it had happened today, a fourth would more than likely give her a concussion. She wrote down a few more notes from the book that was still open before flipping through the pages to find anything else. All that was there was more water magic and some earth magic. Nothing on storms again. She slammed the book closed and sat back in her seat, twirling her pencil around her fingers in agitation.

"There was nothing in that book either," the girl said with a sigh. "A'ilarin, this is turning into a pointless research project. No one over the ages has had anything close to what my aura looks like." Ash thumped a hand on the back of the book she had just closed. "There isn't even a mention of the color purple. Lots of reds and blues, some pinks and indigos, but nothing that is strictly purple. There was one mention of black but that only related to messing around with spatial magic or death magic, neither of with really depicted the way my aura acts. I doubt we are going to find anything."

The redhead was clearly upset that nothing she read had been any help to her throughout the afternoon. A'ilarin frowned and sifted through the stacks of tombs that littered the table, pulling three more after a moment or two. The book Ash had just finished reading only contained the lower ranking Riders that had made it to the manifestation level of magic, hopefully, looking at the higher ranking officials within the Corps would give her a chance to find something. She might even have to do some research on the Elders that had been recorded. Either way, it was still a long shot to find anyone with the same kind of magic as Ash by purely going off of the Rider's aura, albeit helped narrow down the search.

A'ilarin tapped the first book she had given to her student. "This contains some records on the ranked officials. They were often gifted with rare and powerful magics. It is worth looking into for the time being."

"Okay, that's great and all, but when am I supposed to finish all of this? I've been stuck in this chair reading and taking notes all day. Can't I take a break?" Ash asked despondently. She really did not want to go through another one of the books she had been surrounded with all day.

"Only for a couple more hours. I need to focus on Jason for the time being." The older Rider turned to the boy. "Go get changed and meet me in the paddock."

Jason nodded and grabbed his things before heading towards the stairwell. Ash groaned at having to read more. What she really wanted to do was burn off some energy and go flying. Even having combat training with A'ilarin at this point would have been preferable to pouring over the ancient books. The translations were easy enough, but having to focus that much and for that long had drained her mentally.

Begrudgingly, she flipped open the closest book that A'ilarin had pulled out of the stacks for her. It was in yet another language. One that was more difficult than the one she had just read. Switching gears for the fifth or sixth time that afternoon, Ash began to skim through the book, looking for any mention of storms or weather control and the color purple. She also searched for the entries that contained information on constantly changing auras like her. She had become so engrossed in her own work that when Jason came stomping down the stairs and dropping her ringing phone in front of her, she nearly jumped all the way out of her chair.

"Answer your phone. Kate has called like five times since I have been here," he said offhandedly as he continued on his way out the door to the paddock, never giving her a chance to respond before he was gone.

Ash looked down at the phone and sighed. This was going to be a long conversation. The device had gone silent in the time Jason had left the room and Ash managed to recompose herself. She was just about get back to work while waiting for Kate to call again when the blasted thing lit up and blared its ringtone, causing Ash to jump once more. She rubbed one of her ears as she picked up the phone and answered.

"'Ello-"

 _"It's about time that you picked up. I've been calling you for ages. Why didn't you answer? I thought you've been home all day and would be near your phone. What gives?"_ Kate rambled as soon as Ash had answered.

"Heh, sorry. My phone was in my room and I was downstairs taking care of some things. Must have lost track of time," Ash managed, she chuckled uncomfortably, hoping her friend would not jump into another one of her rants about paying attention to the time.

 _"Hmmph. I guess that's fine then,"_ Kate pouted on the other end.

"So how was school? Boring since I wasn't there to talk to?"

 _"Painfully boring. Jason was no help either. You know how he is."_

"Haha, yeah, he is kind of a lurker, isn't he?"

 _"You haven't even seen the worst of it. God he was worse than you when he became a part of the system. I swear he has no idea how to act in public."_

"Hey, come on. I was home-schooled for the longest time too, maybe he was the same way."

 _"True, but that's beside the point,"_ Kate huffed.

"Whatever you say, Kate." Ash held the phone between her cheek and her ear that way she could use her hands to write and flip through the texts in front of her.

 _"I don't know what else you want me to say. He was socially awkward and to this day he barely talks to anyone. How he managed to date Skylar and Amie is beyond me. What they see in him must be something else 'cuz there is no way someone in their right mind would go after the kid who doesn't talk."_ Kate continued to ramble for a few minutes about Jason's ongoing problem of fitting in, and Ash took the time to read a few more entries and jot down a few notes.

 _"Ash…? Ash? Ash, are you paying attention or not? I asked you a question a moment ago."_ The girl on the other end of the phone was beginning to sound increasingly annoyed with Ash's lack of participation in the conversation.

"Huh? Sorry, I was moving some stuff around and got distracted again." She wasn't really all that distracted, just focusing on a particular phrase that made no sense to her when she tried to translate it…okay, she was slightly distracted.

 _"So are we actually talk about you moving or are we going to just sit on the phone and let me ramble?"_ Her friend snapped.

"Well, I don't see the problem either. And let's face it, you're going to ramble whether I ask you to or not." Ash trailed her finger over the phrase again. The passage she was on was talking about an Elder, that much she was able to glean from the text, but much of the passage wasn't making much sense to her. It did not look like it was in a different language, but it was possible. She bookmarked it and moved on to the next one, only to find the same problem.

 _"Ash, for the love of God, will you answer me!?"_ Kate yelled into the phone.

Ash winced and dropped her phone from its place in the crook of her neck and shoulder. It thudded on the table and she could still hear Kate yelling at her about not paying attention for the second time in a row, with emphasis on how her moving away was important.

"Kate, it's not that big of a deal," she said when she put the phone back to her ear once Kate was done yelling.

 _"It is too! You're my friend and it is going to suck when you're actually gone."_

 _Well I'm kind of gone already, Kate._ Ash thought to herself before she spoke again. "Yeah, yeah. I know. It happens all the time for me. To be honest, I'm kinda surprise that we stayed here long enough for me to be enrolled in a school. We move around so often, a lot of the times, my parents wouldn't even bother trying to get me into a school, they would just home-school me."

 _"Like, I get that and you're used to it and everything, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to be okay with it. You, Jason, and I are all friends. It's going to be hard seeing you go, whether you like it or not."_

"Kate…"

 _"No, Ash, you can't just brush both of us off. Jason even said that though he doesn't talk to you very much, he is still going to miss you. And that's a lot coming from him. I'm going to miss you a ton too."_

"Kate, I just can't convince my parents to let me stay. I mean, yeah, I can take care of myself, but I'm still a minor. I can't live by myself when I have two perfectly normal parents." Ash had to make this seem believable. Kate was her friend, and she desperately wanted to tell her the truth about herself, but there were too many risks involved if she did. Not only that, but Jason would be leaving the school in a week as well. She could try to convince A'ilarin to let him stay longer, just for Kate's sake. But Jason would have to be on board with the idea as well, and what she knew of the guy, he wanted out of the school as much as she did herself. And she hadn't even suffered through the whole school year, let alone the two or three Jason had.

 _"Ash, I get that. I'm just trying to tell you that you shouldn't lock me and Jase out just because you're moving on with your parents. We can still keep in touch."_ Kate said gently.

"I know, I know…" Ash leaned back in her chair, twiddling her pencil. She hadn't bothered to get back into studying the books in front of her when she hit the stone wall called translation. It would take more effort than she could afford at the moment since she was on the phone with her friend. "It's just that I normally have never gotten this close to anyone when they have shoved into an actual school. So I didn't make any friends that I would check in with every once and awhile. You and Jason are different. I didn't want to hurt you guys, so I tried to keep it a secret…"

 _"Then how come I found out from Jason?"_

"We met up in town by accident. My parents were inside a real estate agent's office and I was sitting outside because listening to negotiations is really boring. He saw me and I had no other choice but to tell him that we were moving."

 _"You couldn't have fibbed and made something up?"_

"Kate, I was sitting outside of a real estate agent office building. I couldn't have fibbed my out of that one if I tried," Ash deadpanned.

 _"Ah, well, I guess you're right about that one."_ Kate sighed. _"Do you know where you are moving to?"_

"No idea. My parents don't really tell me anything and we just pick up and move whenever they need to." That was a partial truth. Ash really had no idea where they were going, she just knew that they were going to be going at some point.

 _"Okay, you'll send me a post card once you get all settled, right? I would hate to lose touch with you."_ If it weren't for Ash's incredible hearing, Kate's voice would have dropped off after she asked about the post card.

"Don't worry, I will. I don't want to lose touch with you either." Ash let a sad smile appear on her face as she listened to Kate sniffle on the other end of the line.

 _"T-that's good t-to kn-know…"_ Kate stuttered after a second.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Ash laughed lightly. "There really is no reason to cry, you know. I'm not dying or anything like that."

 _"But you're moving away and the last day you were at school you were so sick that you really shouldn't have even bothered to come to school. What a crappy last day with you. Are you sure you can't even come in for one more day now that you're better? That way I can give you a proper good-bye?"_

"I wish there was," Ash sighed, looking at her notebook. "Sorry…"

 _"It's okay, just thought I would ask,"_ Kate laughed, trying to sound too depressed about the whole situation. The conversation went dead after that.

"Well…I need to – I need to go help my parents move some stuff around so we can start packing." Ash hated to have to leave her friend when she clearly needed someone to be her shoulder to cry on, but it was getting late and Ash needed to clean up the mess on the table and start making dinner.

 _"Oh, okay. Will I be able to talk to you tomorrow or something?"_ Kate asked.

"Yeah, I'll try to text you at some point, okay?"

 _"Okay…"_

"Bye, Kate, thanks for understanding."

 _"No problem, bye."_ Kate hung up quickly, and Ash was left to sit there and just hold her phone.

The conversation with her friend went rather well, even though she had to basically lie her way through the whole thing. Ash shook her head, and set her phone down on the table. She stood up and started to move all of the books to one end of the table that way the three of them could all sit at the table and eat. Gathering up all of her papers, she moved them to the tops of the piles before she made her way into the kitchen.

* * *

 **Welp, there it is. I hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **Please read and review! Or even fav or follow! Having nothing more than just the two reviews (and I really tried my best edit my work so it doesn't feel like what the reviewer said) is really kinda sad, and it hurts my motivation to write cuz I don't even know if you guys are reading this all the way through. The stat tracker says people are at least looking at it but I have no idea if you guys are actually liking it. And considering I ask at the end of every chapter, I feel like a broken record. So do a girl favor, 'kay? 'Kay.**

 **On a side note to that, I understand that my story is really nothing like what I have it labeled as. That's because it is my story and this is how I write. Sorry if that offends any one. But to all of you readers who are just lurking, please take a minute to just fav/follow or just review. Something as short and simple as "good chapter :)" is good enough for me. If you feel industrious and want to give me some pointers, go for it! I can take the constructive criticism, and I will take your words into account.**

 **Sorry about all that. I really just wanted to get it off my chest.**

 **I don't know when the next chapter will be uploaded. I'm a college student and my classes and homework take priority. So.. maybe every other week/weekend? Idk. Haven't decided yet.**

 **Peace out for now.**

 **Mogey**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! Back with a new chapter. :)**

 **I feel really good about this one, and it took awhile to write, but not nearly as long as the last chapter. Thankfully, the next chapter is already pretty much finished up. These last two chapters were to fix a lot of pacing issues before we get back to what I already had written before I started posting this story.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 14

Over the next few days, it became increasingly clear that what records A'ilarin had regarding the different types of magic did not include the magic that Ash had inherited. There were no mentions of any sort of weather magic, nor auras that were constantly changing. Ash had hit the books every day to try to find some inkling about her magical abilities. Every. Day. Which was a lot coming from her.

Jason would go off to school, and A'ilarin would sit with her at the dining room table and pour over the books they had pulled out on the first day. Eventually, A'ilarin had gone back to the journal she was given when she had been training. At one point, she thought she had found something for her despondent student, but it had only been information about their own magic and their aura, which did not match up to Ash in the slightest.

Ash pulled out the book she had been reading when Kate had called her to go through it once more. She flipped it open and skimmed through the pages until she came upon the roadblock she had encountered during her conversation with her friend. The girl ran a hand through her hair frustrated. She had figured that after not looking at the book for a while she would have been able to come up with some way to figure out the translation to the passages about the Elders, but nothing was coming to her.

Growling, she shoved the book away from her and slammed a hand on the table. Her movements disturbed the papers surrounding A'ilarin and knocked over one precariously stacked book from the corner of the table onto the floor.

A'ilarin sent a glare at her student. "What is it this time?" Clearly this had not been the first time Ash had decided to throw a tantrum over the lack of information they were finding.

"This damn book switches halfway through," Ash explained as she ran a hand down her face, trying to calm down.

"Switches what?" A'ilarin asked picking up the fallen book.

Ash sighed before starting her explanation, "It starts out with the Riders' equivalent to government officials and then it mentions the Elders and that's where it switches. Like all of sudden, the language changes its grammatical structure and syntax, and it makes an absolute mess of what I was trying to do originally."

A'ilarin turned the book around to read. After a moment, she began to chuckle before bring the book closer to herself and pulling out a new piece of paper. "The reason why you can't understand it is simple: the language changes to something older. I haven't taught you this language."

Ash rolled her eyes and slouched in her chair. "Leave it to you give me a book that I can't read without a dictionary," she grumbled.

"My apologies. I haven't read this collection of records all the way through, so I had no idea that it would switch languages halfway. I'll take care of reading this one."

"Okay, since that's dealt with, I'm going to go take a break. I'm going insane from rereading all of these books." Ash got up from the table and made her way outside where all three dragons were sunning themselves.

Ash walked over to Mer and tapped him on the nose, waking him up from his nap.

 _Come on, wake up. I wanna get out of here for a while,_ Ash said once he blinked at her.

The dragon opened his mouth wide in a yawn, flashing his fangs as he finished. _What's with the sudden rush? Aren't you supposed to be studying or something?_

 _I'm taking a break for the rest of the day,_ Ash snapped. _Now come on, let's go, before A'ilarin finds something for me to do._

 _Alright, alright, I'm moving._

Ash moved out of the way as he stood up and stretched out his wings, warming them up. After a moment, she quickly climbed onto his back, thankful that she had thought ahead for the day. She knew she was going to crack today, so she had decided wearing the riding pants would be a better idea than normal clothing.

Mer took off, gathering altitude quickly and soon they were flying just beneath the clouds. They flew in silence as Ash cooled off from being stuck inside the house for the last couple of days.

They day was an overcast day, the sky covered in a thick blanket of cloud cover. The gray skies caused the reds, oranges, and yellows of the leaves in the surrounding forest to pop. The rolling hills that created the valley that they lived in was painted in varying hues of colors, creating a picture that was worthy of a postcard. Ash loved this kind of fall day. If she was able, she would simply sit at the highest point she could find and just observe. From their vantage point high up in the sky, Ash could see the town that she would visit on the occasion to pick up what necessities they needed that the forest could not provide. It was small, but the population was well over ten thousand. The people were simply spread throughout the forest and suburbs, most of them congregating near the town center and the suburbs. The forest made it difficult for roads to be established and therefore few people actually managed to live there. A'ilarin's property took up a good majority of the area that surrounded the town, nearly spreading out towards the hills that surrounded the valley in one direction.

 _So, is there any reason why you are taking a break for the rest of the day?_ Mer asked as he angled to circle around the town.

Ash sighed and ran a hand down her face, trying not to get upset again. _One of the books that A'ilarin gave me to look through switched languages half way through, and it wasn't something that she had taught me. So, I had no idea what anything was saying._ She stretched her arms above her head once Mer leveled out once more from the turn. _At first, I thought it was because I was simply tired, but when I came back to it, I still couldn't read it._

 _And so you threw a fit and stormed out?_

 _Tch, no._ It was not a total lie, but it was not the complete truth either. _I showed A'ilarin the book and she confirmed that it changed languages once it started to talk about the Elders, so she told me she would take care of it. I had nothing else to do, so I left._

 _I'm sure you could have found something to do,_ Mer chuckled lightly. He flapped his wings to maintain altitude.

 _I did find something to do. I decided flying was what I was going to do._

Mer huffed and let a cloud of smoke escape from his maw as he snapped his teeth in amusement.

They continued their lazy flight around the town, keeping to the ring of hills surrounding it, until they were once again over the center of A'ilarin's property. Mer slowly circled around until he was low enough to be recognized as a dragon and stooped into a dive, landing in the paddock behind their home. Ash slid off and laid down in the dirt, still having pent up stress from being inside for three days. She lied there, Mer encircled around her, and stared at the sky, slowly letting her mind relax from all the work it had done over the past few days. She did not even feel like meditating to relieve this feeling, but lying on the ground and just letting things be for a while let her finally find some peace within herself. Slowly, she dozed off. Mer watched over her as she slept.

* * *

A'ilarin walked out into the paddock to find her student peacefully asleep on the ground, her dragon guarding her. Nyetia had been conversing with the silver dragon but he refused to move away from where Ash was sleeping. Mercury was not conscious about his actions, merely acting out on the bond that they shared which heavily influenced his instincts. Once Nyetia took notice of her presence within the paddock, she stopped talking with Mercury and differred to her.

 _Is everything going well with the research?_ The purple dragon asked.

"It's going well enough," A'ilarin answered. The last book had been a struggle, even for her. It was the book that Ash had stormed out on once she found out that she could not read it. But she had finally found something that would be worth looking into when Ash was awake. At the moment, Jason was due back from school at any moment now, she could tell by the way Feuer had begun pacing around the house.

"Mercury, how long has she been sleeping?" the Rider nodded her head at the girl.

 _For an hour or so. She was really stressed out when she came out of the house before, I guess it finally got to her,_ he responded with a glance down at his Rider.

She was still splayed out on her back, arms extended out away from her sides, and her hair fanned haphazardly around her head. She was snoring quietly, but the look of mental exhaustion still there on her face with the scrunching of her eyebrows.

"As it would seem. Please wake her up, I have some news to share with her. I'll be in the house." And with that, A'ilarin retreated back into their home.

Mer lowered his head and nudged his Rider awake.

"Huh…? Wha's the matter?" Ash grumbled as she sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She had been thoroughly enjoying her nap.

 _A'ilarin wants you the house. She has something to share with you._ Mer responded, looking towards the house.

Standing up, Ash brushed off the dirt on her backside. "Alrighty then. Let's go find out what she wants them."

She walked into the house and made her way into the dining room. A'ilarin was leaning on the table with her hands. She was staring intently at the papers spread across the table, the majority of books that had been there for the last three days were no longer in the room. More than likely put back in their places back in A'ilarin's study. Ash stood next to her and started to read the pages in front of her.

"So what is all of this about?" She said upon picking up a page to examine it closer. The page she had in her hand held a magic circle on it. Right now, she had no idea what the circle was describing in terms of power and magic type. "A'ilarin, what are all these notes about?"

"They're about your magic."

Ash blinked. And she blinked again. After a third, everything finally clicked together in her head and she scoffed. There was no way that after three days of nothing but books, one of them actually found anything.

"You're kidding. There is no way that anything we had contained anything about the magic I have. You said from the very beginning that it was a long shot." Ash stared at her mentor. "You are joking right? 'Cuz this would be really low. You can't get my hopes up like this, A'ilarin."

A'ilarin shook her head and tapped the page that was in between her hands on the table. "The book that switched languages in combination with my Elder's journal was enough information to build a clear enough picture about what your magic is capable of," she explained slowly. Ash continued to stare at her, clearly having a hard time believing what she was saying. "We had a feeling that you would have an affinity for weather magic, basing this observation off of your aura and your temperament. But what we had no idea that you would be the first to have it."

"So what you're saying is…?"

"That everything we have is all hypothesis. I have no idea how powerful you will be, how easy you will be able to control your magic, or what other side-effects you will have."

"Everything we have is speculation…" Ash said quietly. What they had was good and bad news. Now they knew for certain that her magic existed and they have some information on it. On the other hand, they had no idea how destructive it could be. Add on top of that, but they had no idea how easily it could be controlled. That there added a whole new level of difficulty to her learning how to use her magic.

The remained quiet until Jason walked in. He looked between the two of them and glanced down at the table, still scattered with papers.

"Uhh… Is everything alright?" he asked slowly.

Ash jumped out of her daze and looked up at him. "Yeah, we are fine. Just fine. I'm going to go for a walk." And with that, she promptly left the house for the second time that day.

Jason turned his gaze towards A'ilarin, who still had not moved since he walked in.

"So, judging by Ash's reaction and how you're not moving at all, nothing is alright," he said as he walked up to the table and looking down at the papers on the table. He read a few of them, surprised that he actually could since Ash had told him most of the reading material in the house was in quite a few different languages from their own. Even though he had no knowledge about what all the circles on the page meant, plenty of the words did. His gaze flicked from page to page as he read, learning more and more about the magic that was being described there. He read one statement on the furthest page away from him before he snapped his fiery eyes up to stare at A'ilarin.

After a couple of moments, she spoke in nothing more than a whisper, "She can't know that she is uncontrollable. It will only make it harder for her to learn anything about it. If she finds out, her magic will consume her."

"How do we know that for sure though?" he said, just as quietly.

"We don't. Nothing about her magic is known besides a few hypotheses. No one else has had her kind of magic before." A'ilarin started to slowly gather up all of her notes before stuffing them into the one book still on the table.

Jason nodded before walking out of the house, intent on finding Ash. His nose picked up the scent of rain and brimstone and followed it. The rain had to be Ash since they had not had any rain in the area for a week now, everything was bone dry. The brimstone smell could have been any of the dragons, but he automatically assumed that it was Mercury. The scent wound its way through the trees, almost as if it was lost. Jason furrowed his brow and hurried his steps. Soon enough he found them in a clearing on top of a hill, about a mile away from the house. Ash was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and staring at the sky. Mercury was next to her, but instead of looking at the sky, he was watching Jason approach.

Jason waved at the dragon before coming over and sitting next to Ash. They sat in silence, watching the wind bend the surrounding trees and pick up the loose leaves.

"I saw what that one page said," Ash said, her voice was soft.

"Then I guess you know then," Jason said in confirmation.

"Yeah," she sighed, putting her head down on her knees and closed her eyes.

"It's not that big of deal, you know. Magic has always been a hard thing to define."

Ash opened her eyes and gave him a sidelong glance before turning her attention over to Mer who head nudged her shoulder. "Yeah, but everyone else had an Elder to help them through it all. None of them had to deal with the Governments constantly searching for them." She reached up and scratched her dragon's chin.

"Ash, that's possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say." Jason facepalmed, shaking his head.

Ash glared at him, eyes swirling, and the wind picked up. "It's true."

"You have a teacher, multiple really. A'ilarin can help you through some of the more booky stuff but I can help you with the application part. I know how magic feels when you use it. The general feeling doesn't change from person to person." Jason explained.

Ash scoffed and looked at the sky again, the wind dying down a little. "That doesn't change the fact that the weather can't be controlled, Jase. I could have all the teachers in the world, but controlling Mother Nature is ridiculous."

"So? It's not like you are attempting to control the whole earth though. Leave the earth, water, and fire magic to the other people." Jason looked over at Ash, noting the sad look in her eyes.

"I may be connected with the storms but have you seen how a storm behaves? It is its own force. Rain, wind, lightening, thunder? That's wrapped up all in one package. That is what? Four different magics at once? There's no way I can do all of that. Most Riders struggle with just one," she said solemnly.

"The Ash I know wouldn't give up so easily," Jason quipped as he stood back up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ash snapped, a gust of wind nearly pushing him over. It was like she didn't even know she was doing it. This was the second time Jason got a rise out of her and the wind responded with the same intensity as her gaze. The first time he had played it off as coincidence, but a second time in a row was hard to believe.

"Simply what I said," he said nonchalantly, putting his theory to the test. He was going to make sure she knew she already had plenty of control. "My Ash wouldn't just roll over at some bad news. Knowing her, she would have glared and punched it in the face before doing something about it. None of this moping around and being all depressed about it." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

Ash scrambled to her feet and got in his face snarling, the wind buffeting them. "How would you know? A-and what the hell is this about 'my Ash'? I don't belong to you," she snapped. Her eyes sparked and clouds suddenly began to gather in the sky.

"Sure, I know. I mean, look around you. Don't you feel the wind? Look at the sky, those are your clouds up there, 'cuz they weren't there before." He took a step away from Ash and turned his bright gaze to the sky.

Ash stopped scowling and looked up at the sky, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened in amazement as the clouds continued to swirl and the wind pulled at their clothes.

Jason looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Don't you see? You already have plenty of control."

Ash continued to gape. "There's no way this is all my fault."

"Well, it is. Accept it. You have control over the sky." Jason gave her a triumphant grin.

"But how do I stop this?"

Jason shrugged. "Dunno. This all happened because you were upset because I called you out on being a wuss. Try taking a deep breath and clearing your head or something."

Ash gave him a final glare before turning back to the stormy sky she had created. She took a deep breath and cleared her head. She forced all of her worries and inhibitions about her magic to go away for now. She had the time to contemplate them later, now was not the time to wallow in her self-pity.

The skies started to clear and the wind dropped to a gentle breeze. Ash sighed and allowed a small smile to appear. She glanced over at Jason and saw him smiling proudly at her, his eyes were flashing happily. She rolled her eyes at him before climbing on to Mer. The dragon was purring, obviously proud of her as well. She swore if he was not a dragon, then he would be smiling as stupidly as Jason.

"We should head back, and I don't feel like walking," she said, getting settled. "You wanna ride?"

Jason chuckled, but looked apprehensive at Mer. "I don't know, will he let me?" Dragons were not particularly keen on sharing their Riders.

Mer huffed and blew a plume of smoke at him. _Feuer is the one you have to worry about, not me,_ he snapped.

Ash rolled her eyes and waved Jason over. Mer had been raised to accept other Riders on his back. He could be territorial but it was nothing compared to how Nyetia how initially reacted to A'ilarin riding Mer. The first time it happened, the purple dragon had thrown a fit and extended their paddock a few yards before A'ilarin explained herself. Once everything had calmed down, Nyetia had agreed that it was good idea. For a fairly calm dragon most of the time, Nyetia could easily fly off the handle sometimes.

Jason climbed up and before he could find his seat, Mer was climbing into the sky. He scrambled and wrapped his arms around Ash before he could slide off. Ash shook her head at her dragon's antics and helped Jason find a more secure place on his back. The flight back to the house was quick, considering they were only a mile away. After a couple of moments, they were landing in the paddock and Feuer was standing stoically off to the side, glaring at Jason and letting smoke emit from his nostrils.

Jason jumped off and ran over to his dragon, already explaining what was going on. Ash noted that though the two seemed distant from each other, they trusted each other explicitly, probably more so than Ash trusted Mer and vice versa. Ash slid down Mer's shoulder and thanked him for being there with her when she needed. Her dragon nuzzled her in response.

She glanced over at the other two. They were both glaring at each other before Jason relented and backed off. His shoulders had slumped and it looked like Feuer had reminded him of some responsibility that they had. After living with them for few days, almost a week now, she had noticed how much more open he was. He smiled more often and talked a lot more compared to when she would just see him at school. Now he looked like he did when they were at school. It worried her, but it was not her place to ask anything yet. She would give it a few days before she said anything.

After a couple more minutes, Jason turned away from his dragon. Feuer had stopped glaring, but he puffed out some more smoke when he turned away from them all. He had always been aloof for the most part, only hanging around when Jason was home.

Jason stopped next to her, hands in his pockets and closed off look in his eyes.

"Everything cool between you two?" she asked.

"Yeah, he was just mad that I didn't tell him anything." Jason said shortly. "Come on, it smells like dinner is almost ready." With that he walked towards the house.

Ash was quick to follow. She remained quiet. From whatever Feuer had said to Jason had clearly put him out of sorts, and she had her own problems to sort out. Now that she knew that the weather would actually respond to her emotions and that she could quickly dismiss the anomalies she created, she could actually send time to think about what this all meant. But for the moment dinner was the main focus. She was starving.

* * *

Dinner was uneventful, and Jason helped with the dishes as A'ilarin and Ash continued to discuss what they had found.

"A'ilarin, it just seems really unlikely that no one has seen this kind of magic before." Ash seemed like she was still having a hard time believing that she was the only magic user of her kind.

"I'm quite sure, Ashley." Oh no, full name, Ash was treading in dangerous waters. "My Elder was always doing magical research. They would have known if there had been another Rider with the same kind of magic as you." A'ilarin sounded quite done with Ash needing constant reassurance about her magic.

Jason heard Ash sigh before saying her thanks to A'ilarin and gathered up all the papers they had found. She had already admitted to A'ilarin that she had seen the one thing that her teacher had tried to hide from her. It had almost prompted an argument to erupt but Jason had been quick to intervene, telling A'ilarin that she adequate control already as long as she did not let her emotions get to her. They were in the same boat in those regards. His fire magic reacted in the same way, and despite is rather cool demeanor, losing control happened quite often for him.

With papers in hand, Ash walked through the kitchen without a second glance at him. She simply headed straight to her room so she could go over all of the notes. Feuer was still rather upset with him for riding Mercury but there was nothing he could do about that until the dragon got over himself. A'ilarin had said that there wouldn't be anything for him to do for the night, so he was left to his own devices yet again. Considering magic had been the topic of conversation for the last few days, Jason figured he might as well practice his own.

After wrapping up the dishes and setting them out in the drying rack, he made his way outside. The sun had fallen below the trees, so everything had been cast into shadow, but he did not need the light. He was going to be making his own.

Snapping his fingers and creating a small flame, Jason rolled it over his hand. He added more of his magic to it, causing it to flare up in size, and within in a few seconds he had a flame the size of his hand. Garrett had taught him to slowly add his magic to whatever he was doing with fire that way he always had some form of control over it. And one of the perks of being a Rider with a high amount of magic to support his fire magic, Jason was essentially fire proof. He would still burn, given long enough exposure, but since he more attuned to fire than most other people and Riders, he had increased durability when it came to anything fire and heat related. He was really lucky for that too, because whenever Feuer was mad at him, the dragon would try to singe him with his own flames. Needless to say, they were both quite surprised Jason had not burned in the slightest the first time his dragon was that upset with him.

Continuing to roll the flame around his hand, up his arm, and across his shoulders, Jason settled into one of the sequences Garrett had choreographed for him when his magic had developed far enough that Jason could now hold a flame for more than a few minutes. They had dubbed it the 'fire dance' and in principle, it was. The fire dance took Jason through many different stances that allowed him to work on his martial arts. It was not any defined practice, more than likely a combination of all of them knowing Garrett. Jason's mentor had used martial arts as a way to channel his own magic when he needed to, mainly as a last ditch effort to ward off an enemy. His lightening magic had responded well to what he did and therefore Garrett was able to use his magic more frequently than most Riders. If Jason had to guess, magic was picky in the way it allowed itself to manifest for each Rider. For Jason and Garrett, it had been through physical movement and using it to augment their attacks. For someone like Ash, it was safe to assume that she would need to utilize her head more than anything. Jason leapt into the air and performed a roundhouse kick, creating a ring of fire around him from his foot.

As he landed, he kept the ring of fire hovering where his foot had flown through the air. He was breathing faster because of the physical exertion he was putting himself through as he used his magic. He had not completed all of the sequence he had set out to do, the round house kick had come out of nowhere when he was mainly focusing on he moved through punches and standing kicks. Shaking off his momentary artistic streak, he picked up where he left off and allowed the ring of fire dissipate into the air. Another ball of fire was created and once more, he was rolling it around his body. He would punch it through the air and call upon his magic to bring it back to him as he moved through all of his stances.

In the back of his head, he could hear Garrett commenting on how he was moving. Jason was no expert on martial arts, but Garrett had engrained it into him to always be aware of his body. Garrett's voice was nothing more than Jason having a flashback to when Garrett had first taken him in. Within the first few days of Jason and Feuer living with Garrett and Nova, Jason was being taught how to punch and kick. Jason's mentor was very physical in his teachings, and a lot of the history and culture that Jason had been taught was learned through sparring matches with Garrett. None of which he ever won without using magic. Again, it came back to how easily everyone burned compared to him.

But just before they would go to bed, Garrett would often tell him stories of his days at the Riders Academy and the shenanigans that he would drag his partner into. He would always go on and on about how uptight she was, always going by the book. Jason wrapped up his dance with a laugh as he thought about how accurate Garrett had been when describing A'ilarin. In the stories, he had never used her name, always referring to her as his partner and the corresponding pronouns. So when Jason had actually met A'ilarin, it had come to him as shock that he had actually managed to find her, even though it had been almost three years since Garrett had told him to do so. And with that, Jason's smile was gone. Thinking about his teacher's final wish had brought up unwanted memories and the guilt with them.

Jason snuffed out the fire in his hands before his emotions leaked into his magic. Burning down the home that had kindly taken him in would be a great way to make an enemy of two very capable Riders and their dragons. He had been hiding out for three years, and he did not want to go back to that way of life because he accidently burned down the house.

He took a moment to calm his breathing. Looking around the paddock, Jason found the orange gaze of Feuer that matched his own. The dragon had crept out of the woods where he took sanctuary with the other dragons. During the day, if they were not interacting with their respective Riders, they were in the woods doing, well, dragon things. Or lazing about the paddock sunning themselves. Jason was not privy to what they did, his mental range had never reached more than half a mile around him. The house was located atleast ten or more away from school, resulting in Jason being out of the loop on a lot of the things that happened at the house.

 _Are you still mad at me?_ Jason asked as he continued to meet Feuer's eyes as he watched them slowly lose their glow. It was a part of the bond they shared, and it seemed to only happen to them. Both of their eyes glowed, more like blazed, whenever Jason used his magic. The afterglow took a few minutes to wear off and their eyes to return to normal.

 _I was never mad at with you to begin with,_ Feuer replied as he lowered his head to Jason's level.

 _That's not what it sounded like when I got back from talking with Ash._ Jason crossed his arms and gave him a pointed look.

Feuer huffed and a small jet of flame escaped his mouth, swirling around Jason. _You are getting too close to the girl. What happened to keeping your distance?_

 _The situation has changed,_ Jason gritted out. As always, this was a sore topic between them. When he first met Ash on the first day of school, there was no mistaking the smell of dragon fire on her, automatically giving her away to him. Feuer did not have the odd habit to respond to any offhand comment by engulfing him in a cloud of smoke. Since then, Jason had alternated between wanting to reveal himself to her and avoiding her. It honestly depended on which one of them came up with the better argument that day. More often than not, his dragon would win the argument.

 _I can see that it has, but the end game is always the same. There will be war, and there is no guaranteeing anyone's safety once it starts._ Feuer raised his head and looked away from his Rider.

 _The war won't start for many years. The Riders haven't gathered and the Governments are still trying to create an artificial one. Their technology hasn't come that far yet._

 _Just because it may be years before the war will actually begin, it does not equate to becoming lazy and complacent,_ Feuer said imploringly.

 _Feuer, I have not become complacent and lazy. I'm stuck going to school and spending my time there instead of practicing what Garrett had taught me._ Jason turned around and sat back down on the ground, essentially pouting.

He heard Feuer sigh and laid down around his Rider. As much as the two but heads, they had each other's backs. Jason leaned back against Feuer's shoulder and let out a sigh himself.

 _As your dragon, I can't watch you do this,_ Feuer said lowly.

 _But you have to trust me. This whole Rider and dragon stuff only works if we trust each other,_ Jason vented, _and as much as I don't want to be involved in all of this, I am. I'm a Rider and it is part of my duty to make sure we don't lose ourselves to history. Garrett taught us that, remember? We can't ignore that. Ash, Mercury, A'ilarin, and Nyetia are all a part of this. I can't avoid them._

Feuer closed his eyes and situated his head at Jason's feet, completing the circle he created around him. _Just don't let it cloud your judgement, then._

Jason tapped him with a foot. _That's what I have you for,_ he grinned. _You'll always be there to knock some sense into me._ He was never one to stay mad at his dragon for long.

 _If I wasn't, no one else would,_ the dragon said, cracking an eye open to give him knowing look.

Jason just continued to grin, happy that they were able to end the argument without either of them storming off. He knew Feuer would never admit to being protective of him, but the dragon had a sixth sense when it came to Jason ever being in danger. He always came to the rescue.

 _Well as much as I would love to sit here and chill with you, I should head off to bed. A'ilarin had mentioned that she has a couple things she wanted to try tomorrow and that I should be well rested._ Jason stood up and dusted off his pants.

Feuer raised his head and Jason walked back to the house, wishing his dragon a good night before disappearing inside. Once inside, Jason's chipper demeanor dropped and it felt like the weight of the world settled back onto his shoulders. All the thoughts about Garrett and Nova had brought up some unwanted memories, and as he made his way up to his room, he could not empty out his mind. He dressed for bed and fell into bed, the magic practice he had done had worn him out more than he had realized. He realized that he should practice more often to build up his stamina again.

He tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. His thoughts were still full of his mentor and his dragon. After an hour or so, he finally fell into a fitful sleep, his brows furrowed in frustration.

* * *

 **Well I hope you all enjoyed this! I really like it.**

 **I'm trying really hard to give you some background on my characters, like gradually revealing things about them throughout the story, so *spoilers* the next couple of chapters will reveal a lot more than the rest of the story has up until now. I never liked how some stories would just dump all of character's back story at the very beginning. Yeah, it's interesting and all, but I like to learn about characters as they progress through the plot. It makes them seem more real to me. Like, you wouldn't tell someone you just met your whole life story right? It's a lot like that. And for me, a lot of things are discovered through dialogue, but I am trying to mix it up a little. I tried to do that this chapter, I hoped it worked, it feels like it did...sorta...**

 **Anyways, drop a review, pretty please? Let me know how I did. And if it helps for reviews to come in, I'll leave more ANs like this so you can see where I am coming from for each chapter. I really don't mind doing it.**

 **See you guys next chapter,**

 **Mogey**


	15. Chapter 15

**So I had some extra time this weekend and since this chapter was already prewritten, there wasn't much to do as far as editing goes. Hope you guys enjoy. :)**

* * *

Chapter 15

Ash awoke to screaming from down the hall. She sat up in bed groggily and looked at the clock. It was only two in the morning. No big deal. Who was she kidding, Ash was never the person to be okay with waking up in the middle of the night, despite the training A'ilarin had done in order for her to becompeltely awake within a minute of opening her eyes. The conditioning still needed some work. Every morning was proof of that.

Another yell was heard from down the hall, sounding strangled.

"Wah the hell…?" Ash mumbled to herself.

She stood up and made her way down the hall, towards the yelling. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Feuer spoke.

 _You need to wake him up! He's having a nightmare and needs to be woken up before he loses control!_

Ash scrunched her eyes together. Lose control? Lose control of what? Himself?

 _What do you mean?_ She asked as she opened the door. Feuer never got the chance to respond before she was blasted with a wave of heat.

 _Feuer, what the hell is going on!?_

 _Jason has nightmares about the night Garrett died. He lost control of his fire magic and they were discovered by the Governments soon after. Garrett had gone to distract them while we got away. We were supposed to meet him here with you and A'ilarin but he never came._ The dragon explained.

 _What? Lost control of his magic?_ Ash held an arm in front of her face to ward off some of the heat.

 _Yes, his magic. It is deeply rooted into his emotions and if he gets too upset he will lose control. He needs to be woken up. Hurry!_ The dragon was truly worried for his Rider.

Ash made her way into the room, tugging her shirt up over her face to try to get some cleaner air. There was smoke coming off of Jason where his body touched the sheets. He had thrown off most of the blankets on the bed with his thrashing. His body was drenched in sweat from the amount of heat in the room. How did it get this bad?

The redhead stood next to the bed and tried to shake him awake only to find his skin was searing hot. She pulled her hand back quickly, already singed from the brief contact. She looked around and grabbed one of the blankets and threw it over him. Ash began to try to shake him awake, but that only seemed to increase the heat in the room.

Suddenly she had an idea.

Ash ran downstairs and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and ran back up to Jason's room. She quickly uncapped the bottle and proceeded to dump its contents on his face. When the water bottle was about half way emptied on his face, Jason sputtered awake, wiping the water away from his eyes.

"What the hell?" He gasped before noticing Ash standing next to the bed.

His eyes widened with realization before snapping them shut and letting his head fall into his hands. Chest heaving, he began to lower the temperature in the room so it was more bearable for both of them. He still didn't raise his head from his hands once he regained control of his breathing.

Ash watched quietly. He was upset, that much she knew, but what she was worried about was what would happen now? They couldn't sweep this under the rug and pretend everything was okay, they had to deal with this. And sooner rather than later.

After about two minutes of waiting quietly, Ash spoke up.

"So…are you okay now?" She said it quietly, she really didn't want to send him off into another panic attack.

Jason sighed, before finally sitting back up and looking at her. His eyes practically glowing in the dark.

"Yeah… I think so…" He didn't seem so sure of it himself.

Ash capped the water bottle and set it on his nightstand, right next to a small book, before sitting down on the bed and staring him down.

"We both know that you're not okay." She said sternly.

Jason scooted over, giving her room before looking out the window. Feuer was there watching them. He nodded to his dragon before Feuer moved away, satisfied that Jason was going to be okay for the night.

"I really don't want to talk about it." He said quietly.

Ash snorted and Jason looked at her.

"Tough." She said, giving him a soft glare. Jason wouldn't have thought it possible to receive that kind of look if it were coming from anyone else but her. "You need to talk about it."

He clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth. Jason looked away from her, hoping that ignoring her she would give up and go back to her room, like any normal person. Too bad she was too stubborn to be classified as a normal person. Regardless of the dragons.

Her gaze softened, and she turned to look out the window with him. "Look, I get it. It's painful to talk about it, but bottling it up isn't the right thing to do, Jase." She said in voice he never thought he would here from her: soft and caring.

Jason gave her a side-long glance, bristling at her words despite her tone. "How could you possibly get it? You haven't lost anyone yet to this war that hasn't ended in over a hundred years," he growled.

"Okay, fine, you're right, I guess I don't get it. I don't know what having anyone dying is like, but I had a family before having this life thrust upon me without me asking for it." She snapped, but she continued on wistfully, ignoring his angry tone. "I didn't ask for this, you know, I was happy being the little redheaded girl that could bring a smile to anyone's face. I had a brother and a sister who looked up to me like I was their hero before I ran away with Mer in my arms. Hell, I didn't even clean up after myself when his egg hatched. I just left it there without as much as saying goodbye to them. I like to think that they hate me for leaving, it makes me feel better on some sick level. Having them hate makes it easier for me to stay away."

Jason just watched as she kept telling him about her deepest thoughts and feelings.

"My brother should be learning how to drive and my sister should be followed by a crowd of boys. I wish for them to be happy and to have forgotten about me. But I don't resent not being there for them. A'ilarin was a better mother than my own, teaching me how to read and write in multiple languages, some of them are even dead languages that humans haven't seen in centuries, honestly. I've learned to fly like any Rider would, and can perform the most difficult maneuvers with the best of them according to A'ilarin. She taught me how to defend myself with multiple weapons. How to shoot a firearm so that I'm on the same level as those monsters in the Governments. So far, I haven't had to fight anyone from that disgusting place, and I'm glad I haven't been forced to take a life yet."

She paused for a moment, blinking into the moonlight that came into the room when a cloud passed. She seemed so lost in thought that Jason was sure that if he said anything, or even moved, he would startle her and she would close up again. He watched her head tip down and her wild hair obscured her face. She muttered something that he wasn't sure if he heard it, but he had and it caused him to cringe inwardly

"I don't think I can…"

Jason just sat there dumbfounded. She looked so vulnerable right then, like she could break at any moment, but she squared her shoulder and looked at him, meeting his eyes.

"So yeah, I may not know what it feels like to lose someone so close to me, but I know better than to shove that demon under your bed and hope it doesn't come out again. No matter how much you try to cover it up by piling more things in front of it, or distracting it with whatever does the trick, it will always come back to haunt you. So man up and face it."

Jason looked away ashamed. "I-I didn't have a family before Feuer." He stuttered out. If they were going to bare their hearts to each other, might as well commit. "Surprisingly enough, I found his egg in the woods near the orphanage I was at. I was abandoned before m-my parents even bothered to give me a name. They swaddled me up and left me there. I grew up and a few years later, after running off to get away from the rest of the children, I stumbled onto his egg. I didn't know what he was, the people at the orphanage didn't take the time to educate us, and so the Riders and dragons were a mystery to me. I kept his egg there, hidden away so that no one else could find him and take him away, and then one day he hatched. He was fiery orange just like I told you, but he promised to stay in the woods while I continued to live at the orphanage. A couple years later, Garrett walked into the orphanage like he owned the place and immediately adopted me. By that time I was like six or seven. So for the next seven years, he raised me on the back of a dragon."

Ash listened quietly for once, not asking questions whenever he took a moment to order his thoughts. She just let him talk, he needed it much more than she did right now.

"We settled down from time to time, so we could stock up on supplies and for Garrett to teach me how to control my magic. He told stories of how he was in the Rider Academy and about his partner mothering him. He sounded like he was so in love with her though. I don't know if that is a normal thing for partners, but I'd like to think that he was happy with her."

Ash smiled, a younger A'ilarin mothering some other grown adult sounded a lot like her. Jason had a grim smile on his face as well before it fell and he spoke again.

"Three years ago was the first time I really lost control of my magic." Jason paused, staring out the window, his eyes glowed in the moonlight they were still sitting in. "We had camped for the night, and Garrett had the first watch. We were in a heavily infested Governments area and we didn't even have a fire going in order to avoid any detection. I had begged for a fire, because I didn't like how abnormally dark the forest was. But Garrett wouldn't give in to a whiney teenager. So I went to bed angry and scared, which caused me to have a nightmare. My fire magic flared in response to my nightmare and caught some of the underbrush on fire. It quickly spread and soon enough the Governments' men were alerted to our presence. Garrett woke me up roughly and dropped me onto Feuer's back, telling me to go before we were both found." He reached out and picked up the small book from his nightstand. "He gave me his memoir and told me to only read the first few pages that were dedicated to me. He told me to fly to the location marked on the map in the back. Before I knew it, he was on Nova and flying in a random direction."

Jason's voice had begun to waver at this point, and Ash reached out and took his hand, trying to comfort him. He took a shaky breath and shot her a thankful smile, squeezing her hand.

"I never saw him again after that. When were about a mile or two away from where we started, there was a large explosion. We circled back around to see if Garrett and Nova had made it out alive. What we found was nothing but charred corpses and body parts everywhere. In the center of it all was a dragon's skull, burnt black from the explosion and there was no mistaking that…that they…they were…" He struggled to breath, unable to say what needed to be said in three years. Tears had started to fall down his face.

Ash quickly gathered him into a hug, pressing his head to her shoulder with one hand as her other wrapped around his shoulders. It was only his first week staying with them and she was hugging him in the middle of the night, what has her world come to? She didn't care. She saw her friend hurting and there was some crazy instinct inside of her screaming at her to take care of him.

Jason stiffened for a second before wrapping his arms around her, holding her just as close as she was holding him. She would stay like this as long as he needed her to. If she needed to be his rock in this messed up world that they found themselves in, she would, whether he asked for or not. A'ilarin had mentioned in passing that they should learn how to be partners, so that they could rely on each other. Ash vowed to herself that she would not allow Jason to continue to hurt himself with his self-inflicted guilt. She would find some way to make him see that it was not his fault that Garrett and Nova lost their lives that night when he first lost control. He was only an emotional teenager, no one expected him to be perfect right out the gate. It took her years to realize that, even with A'ilarin's constant reassurances whenever she failed to do something perfectly the first time.

After a long time, he finally stopped crying into her shoulder. Jason did not move away from the embrace they shared, instead opting to raise his head and rest his chin on her shoulder.

"S-sorry you had to be there for that. 'S not exactly my best moment…" he said quietly.

He felt Ash shrug her shoulders. "Everyone needs someone at some point. If it hadn't been me to wake you up, A'ilarin would've. Though she wouldn't have stuck around to talk it out." She chuckled a little bit at the thought.

Jason couldn't help but grin as well. "Yeah, she probably would have left me to figure it out for myself."

"As long as you didn't burn the house down in the process, she would." Ash let her arms relax a little. Jason took that as his queue to let go. They continued to sit in front of each other though.

"Thank for waking me up before I did."

Ash waved him off. "Again, no biggie. But, what made you have a nightmare about that night though?" She was genuinely curious. Ash kept her face open, trying to convey to Jason that she honestly just wanted to help.

Jason seemed to pick up on it, and he had a grim smile on his face. "With all the talk about magic, I decided that I should practice with mine a little bit tonight. It was nothing compared to what Garrett would have me do on a daily basis, but it was enough to trigger some memories about him."

Ash raised her eyebrows. "So, you're saying that just thinking about him can cause nightmares?" she asked.

Jason shrugged and looked away from her. "Only sometimes," he said indignantly, "it's mostly when I use my magic the way he taught me."

"The way he taught you?"

"Yeah, he taught me a way of channeling my magic using body movements and stuff." Ash was giving him slightly confused look when he glanced at her, not quite understanding what he was saying. "I'd have to show you. It's really not that difficult."

"Okay, if you say so." Ash looked out the window. "But it seems to me that the only way to get through all of this is practice more. Sorta like exposure therapy."

Jason sighed and leaned forward to grab Ash in a hug again. She squeaked lightly, taken by surprise in his actions, but wrapped her arms around him regardless. His forehead rested on her shoulder, opposite of the one he cried on earlier.

"Can… c-can we worry about that some other time? I don't want to talk any more about it for the night." He sounded emotionally exhausted. Ash had thought that he was going to be okay for the night, but she felt the shaking of his shoulders once more and instantly knew that he was crying once more. She guessed that after years of holding it all in, him letting everything go would come in short spurts. Tonight had obviously been enough for him.

They sat there for what felt like the rest of the night, Jason tucked into Ash's shoulder as she held onto him as much as he held onto her. Soon enough, the boy stopped shaking and the tears ceased, but he continued to hold onto her. Ash didn't mind. She was content to sit there, rubbing his back and running a hand through his hair. His arms had relaxed from his strong grip, but he still wouldn't let go. Jason's breathing evened out and before she knew it, he had fallen asleep leaning against her shoulder.

"Great, just great. I guess a full night's sleep is too much to ask for when he's around." She muttered to herself, but she couldn't really help but chuckle at the situation.

Both of them had bared their hearts to one another and comforted one another when it seemed like their emotions would overtake them. They had figured out that they would be there for each other through and through, no matter what life would throw at them from here on out.

Ash tried to disentangle herself from Jason's grip but found that even with him lying down, he still wouldn't let go of her waist. Ash huffed and tried once again to remove his arms from around her. But it was no use. He was locked in and wasn't going to let go before he woke up later that morning. Ash sighed in defeat, but didn't lie down right away. She noticed Garrett's memoir discarded on the sheet that was still wrapped around Jason's legs. She picked it up and observed it, not daring to open it. It was just a small dark green book, no bigger than the average leather bound journal, but a thick as a novel. There was no way that this book was full page to page. She flipped it over in her hand, but still wouldn't open it. She finally put it back on the nightstand and laid down next to Jason, grateful for the sheet that was between them.

She grabbed a blanket that was at the foot of the bed, confident that Jason wouldn't have another nightmare that night, and tugged it over them. She used her arm as a pillow and settled in for the rest of the night. Soon enough she was snoring lightly along with the boy who wouldn't let go of her.

* * *

 **So yeah, this chapter is a little short. Only a little over 3k words in total, minus my little notes at the beginning and end.**

 **This chapter basically wrote itself before I added the two previous chapters. I really wanted a moment like this to happen between Ash and Jason. I feel that it is something that will bring new depth to their friendship and characters.**

 **That's all I got for now. See you guys next chapter.**

 **Please read and review (goddamn I feel like a broken record...)**

 **Mogey**


	16. Chapter 16

**I decided to post this early since I finished it much faster than I originally thought it was goin' to take me.**

 **Plus I'm going to have to start writing more chapters. My buffer is all gone after this one. It was the goal anyways to do that after uploading this chappie.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 16

A'ilarin found the two teenagers in Jason's bed that morning after finding Ash's room still empty.

The Rider had heard the screaming from last night, nightmares were nothing new to her. Ash had had them every once and awhile when she was younger. She still made her up to the hallway and had watched Ash get blasted by the heat wave from Jason's magic. A'ilarin had not expected the nightmare to have drawn out his magic. She watched as Ash rushed into the room and come out almost right after. The girl hadn't seen A'ilarin standing to the side of the hallway. Soon enough, Ash was running back up the stairs with a water bottle and went into Jason's room again. Within a few moments, the heat that was radiating out of the room dissipated and the screaming had stopped. A'ilarin knew that Ash had the situation under control, so she had gone back to bed.

When she got up in the morning to wake the two up and have a training session, she found them sharing the same bed. The Rider could only guess that they had fallen asleep after talking about what happened. If she knew Ash as well as she thought she did, then Ash wouldn't let go of what happened. Ash knew from her own experience that harboring guilt over something that one had no control over was asking for another breakdown. The girl never wanted someone to go through that if they had a way out.

A'ilarin leaned against the door frame and watched them sleep. They were lucky it was the weekend and Jason didn't have to go to school. She smiled and turned away from the room. Let the two teenagers sleep, they needed it.

* * *

After a couple hours, Jason woke up to find himself tangled in his blankets and another body. He nearly yelled out loud and shoved her off the bed. How did Ash end up in his bed? Jason stared at the girl that he found curled into his side. She looked peaceful sleeping there. Her hair was as wild as ever, her bangs had fallen into her face, and her head had somehow ended up pillowed against his bicep. She was snoring lightly, and her heavy breaths told him that she was still in a deep sleep. Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair and looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was nearly eleven. Well, at least there was no school today, with it being the weekend and all.

He turned and looked out the window. It turned out to be a gloomy day with a strong possibility of rain. Jason laid there for another moment, trying to decide whether it would be worth it to wake up Ash. Thinking better of that idea before he ended up with a raging storm in his room, he tried to disentangle himself from the blankets and her. He was almost free until he felt a tugging on his shirt. Ash had a fistful of his shirt. Perfect. Jason took the quickest course of action and just took off his shirt and left it with her.

Grabbing a new one and a pair of sweats from his dresser, he quickly got dressed and escaped the room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he made his way downstairs but his moment of reprieve was short lived when he found A'ilarin sitting at the table, casually drinking a cup of tea, smirking at him. She gestured for him to sit down across from her.

Jason groaned but did so anyways. He remembered how she had taken down Ash in the space of a heartbeat.

"Sleep well?" The Rider asked, taking another sip of her tea.

"For the most part…yeah I guess." Jason mumbled. He was guessing that she had come to wake them up for the morning but found them like that instead.

A'ilarin watched the boy tear himself apart under her gaze.

"You needn't worry about anything. Nightmares are common." She said finally, letting the boy go from her stare.

Jason slumped forward and let his forehead thump on the table. "Doesn't mean they're pleasant," he muttered into the table.

A'ilarin chuckled in agreement. "What was this one about?"

"It's the same thing every time. It's about the night Garrett and Nova died."

"I see." The Rider across from took another sip of her tea. "I'm assuming you and Ash talked last night?"

Jason rolled his head to the side and nodded, rubbing his cheek on the table. "More like she lectured me."

"She will do that, but with good reason. She went through something similar before."

"She mentioned it. Atleast she had a family before you and Mercury." He was surprisingly jealous over that.

A'ilarin sighed, "She may not agree with me telling you this, but her family wasn't the greatest either." She gave Jason a hard stare. "Her parents were more focused on her siblings than they were her; even when she was the only child, the dog had more attention than her. Yet she remained a happy child and continued to give to her family as they only took from her. Her siblings were spoiled and she was forced to do every chore that a five year old could do. At school, she was ignored, so the point where she thought she was mute for the longest time because no one would pay her any mind. It took years for her to finally trust me after I found her wandering the woods with a dragon on her shoulder. Her biggest fault would be that she forgives too easily, considering her history with people."

Jason had picked his head up off the table to stare at A'ilarin as she continued with Ash's life story. "But you could say that we are her first real family. Even then she doesn't make friends easily, but she will protect anyone that she can. The girl is like a whirlwind, always asking questions, always getting into trouble, finding weapons in the shed that she had no hope of using until she was older, and always flying off on her own. She's a never ending storm and I have taken it upon myself to make sure her storm never ends. With you here, you have to help with that too, which means you can't continue to wallow in your guilt over that night."

The boy slammed a hand on the table in frustration. "But the whole reason they're gone is my fault! How am I not supposed to be guilty about that?" Jason asked.

"I saw how your magic lost control last night, and I can tell you that I firmly believe that it was not your fault." A'ilarin said with such finality that Jason didn't argue. She reached out and took his hand in hers. "Remember what I told you. You are young and just scratching the surface of your magic. It is possible that one day you will lose total control, but the point is, is that you are trying to change that possibility. Do not let the past hold you back from moving forward."

With that, A'ilarin let go of his hand and stood up to walk into the kitchen with her now empty cup of tea. Jason remained seated, going over all that she told them. Despite different circumstances, Ash had had it as rough as he did growing up. He sat there brooding about the last twelve hours, long enough that Ash finally made her way downstairs. She had come out of the kitchen carrying two bowls of cereal and set one down in front of him with a spoon before sitting down where A'ilarin had previously sat.

"You okay?" She asked before taking a bite from her cereal.

"Yeah, I'm fine now." Jason mimicked her and they ate in silence until their food was gone.

Ash propped an elbow up on the table and let her head fall into her hand. "You know, you could have woken me up when you did. We would have had more time to take care of Feuer's scales if you did." She said.

"You needed the sleep." Jason said, not meeting her eye. "I felt bad about waking you and worrying about me because I had a nightmare." She reached out and flicked him on the forehead. "Ow! What was that for?" He rubbed his forehead and pouted.

"Stop worrying over it. We're friends and we take care of each other right? Isn't that how friends work?" Ash tilted her head to the side and smiled at him.

"I wouldn't know. I never had anyone to actually call a friend." Jason muttered.

Ash rolled her eyes at him. "Well, I'm your friend now, and I say we take care of and look out for each other. Now come on. There's still enough of the day left to take care of Feuer, and if we double team it, he should be done in no time!" She stood up and made her way outside.

Jason hesitated for a moment before rushing off after her. A'ilarin was right, she was a raging storm, no matter the situation.

About an hour later, Feuer was covered in the scale paste and Ash was redrawing her saddle sketch on to a note pad, being careful to mark down the measurements exactly. Jason was lounging under the shade of one of Feuer's wings. The sun had burned off the clouds that had been in the sky when he had woken up. It had rained earlier, so now the sun had made the day muggy with its heat, despite the cooling season.

"Hey, Ash?"

The girl hummed and looked up from her notepad.

"How long does it take this stuff to bake? It's been an hour." Jason was bored, but Feuer didn't seem to mind standing as still as a statue, in fact he had fallen asleep like that. The lazy dragon.

Ash got up and walked around the rather large dragon. "Normally an hour would do it, but since he's never had this done, his scales were looking really beat up." Ash thought out loud for Jason's benefit.

"So, how much longer?"

"I'd say another hour would do it. A'ilarin is busy trying to get a hold of the equipment specialist still, so we have the time." She sat down and picked up her notepad again.

Jason continued to relax under Feuer's wing. He lifted a hand and concentrated, feeling the familiar tug on his gut from calling on his magic, and a flame sparked into life on his first finger. He began to roll it between his fingers, memorized by the way it moved. It was a little orange flame, his personal color. Garrett had explained that every Rider had their own color when using magic and his had been a pale yellow, almost white, much like Nova's scales. It didn't always match a Rider's dragon, but most of the time it did. Garrett told him that the only person who had a different color from their dragon was his partner, A'ilarin. Neytia was deep amethyst color, but A'ilarin's magic had always glowed an emerald green.

Jason snuffed out the flame and looked over at Ash. Now she was simply sketching in her notepad, bored as much he was waiting for the scale paste to finish baking on Feuer. He wondered what color her magic would take. Mercury was a brilliant silver, so that color wasn't out of the question. He flopped onto his back and looked up at Feuer's orange wing. He was beyond bored.

 _You need to learn patience._ Feuer had woken up.

 _Bah. I've never needed it._ Jason retorted.

Feuer simply huffed, some smoke leaving his nose. Though it wasn't his intention, the plume of smoke he emitted went straight for Ash and enveloped her. She sputtered and coughed, which caught Mercury's attention from the other side of the paddock. Jason fell into a fit of laughter.

"What the hell?" Ash glared at the two of them. Feuer atleast looked apologetic but Jason was asking for a beating from the way he kept laughing. "Oh, you're asking for it." She grumbled.

Ash cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck, stomping over to where the boy was on the ground. Jason saw her coming and made a run for it, Ash not far behind him. They raced around the paddock, their dragons watching them in amusement. Eventually, Ash caught him and wrestled him to the ground. They continued to wrestle on the ground for a few moments before Ash ended up on top and Jason dazed underneath of her. The triumphant girl stood up, leaving him on the ground. She dusted herself off and made her way to the side of the barn where the hose was and began to wash off Feuer. A few minutes later, Jason joined her, covered in dirt .

"That was really unfair and you know it." He muttered as he took the hose from her, passing it along Feuer's neck and rubbing the paste off.

Ash laughed lightly, continuing to work on the dragon's head. Feuer was thoroughly enjoying himself as she scratched around his fringe near the back of his head. "To be fair, you were asking for it by continuing to laugh."

"So? It was funny." He shot back, sounding like a child.

Ash rolled her eyes and took the hose back from him and moved to one of Feuer's shoulders. Now that the paste was coming off along with all the dirt that had accumulated over the years, Feuer's scales were black with the hint of orange, not the gray that she had originally thought he was. His under belly was still the fiery orange, but it was still memorizing how the orange melted into the black scales that made up the rest of him.

In record time, they finished washing off the paste and had moved on to oiling Feuer's scales. They were just about finished when A'ilarin came out side.

"Ah, it seems that you are almost done?" She asked the both of them.

The teenagers nodded and refocused on their work. They only had his wings and tail left to oil now.

"Good. You will be pleased to know that my equipment master has agreed to make two saddles, and will need Feuer's measurements."

Ash grinned. "Sure, it won't be a problem once we are done."

Jason, on the other hand look mildly confused. "Two? I thought Mer was the only one who needed a new one."

 _Gosh, he can be a slow one sometimes,_ Mer groaned to Ash. The girl laughed, nearly falling off of the wing she was currently working on.

 _No kidding._ She said before speaking to Jason. "You're gonna need one too if we are to be traveling soon."

Jason tilted his head, still confused. "I thought you were still against that idea."

"Yeah, I may not like it, and Mer definitely needs a new saddle. But you still need one. Feuer is nearly too big to ride any more bareback." Ash shrugged. "Plus there's the whole thing that you'll go through pants likes no one's business, too."

Jason sputtered and failed to come back with any kind of response, and Ash actually fell off of Feuer's wing laughing. She landed in a giggling mess, clutching her sides as tears started to gather at the corner of her eyes. Jason just glared at her but finished oiling Feuer's other wing.

Eventually, after Ash had finally stopped laughing, A'ilarin began to speak again.

"We will be meeting them just after sundown. That gives us about three hours before we have to leave. Ash, will you please teach him how to meditate, as well? Garrett failed to do so."

Jason shot an exasperated look at the Rider. "Hey, it's not my fault he didn't like to do it."

A'ilarin ignored him and turned around and walked back to the house. Jason shot Ash a baleful look, knowing that he was not going to enjoy this.

Ash on the other hand, was actually looking forward to it. Meditating was a great way for her to stretch her mind outwards, and she enjoyed checking on some of the animals that inhabited their woods. Plus, she would be able to start the process of learning to fully control her magic. But for now, she had to take measurements for Feuer. She went to grab the tape measure from her saddle and began to climb around Feuer, ticking off measurements here and there in her notepad that Jason handed her with a sour look on his face.

She caught Jason's expression and scoffed at him. "Oh come on, it really isn't that bad."

"It just sounds boring." Jason whined as she jumped down from his dragon's back.

Ash rolled her eyes and looked over Feuer. His scales had taken well to the treatment they had given him and he was actually in a better mood because of it. The dragon was currently stretching out his wings and arching his back, much a like a cat would. He let out a small roar once he was done and butted his head against Jason.

 _Give it a shot. You might actually learn some patience if you do._ The dragon teased before moving out of the paddock to settle down in the shade of the trees.

Meanwhile, Jason was trying to escape back to the house but was apprehended by Ash, who grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him to the center of the paddock before sitting him down. She sat down in front of him and just watched him with an amused expression on her face while he pouted fiercely across from her.

"Why do you seem so reluctant to do this?" She sighed after a moment, taking her hair down from its bun.

The boy shrugged and continued to pout. "Never saw the point, Garrett said it was a waste of time. So we never bothered."

Ash ran a hand through her hair, gently untangling it as she waited for Jason to get over himself. They had roughly two hours to spend on this since they still had yet to have dinner.

"Look, it doesn't take a lot of focus. For now we can just focus on breathing. Maybe later we can move on to extending your mind." She offered.

Jason continued to pout. He truly was channeling his inner three year old.

The redhead lost some of her patience with him at that point and flicked him in the forehead for the second time that day. "If you're going to be that way, I'll just go tell A'ilarin that you're being stubborn and won't listen." She made herself stand up. "And I don't know if you know this yet, but she really doesn't take kindly to someone not doing as they're told."

That made Jason start to sweat in fear, and he grabbed Ash's hand before she could start to walk away and tugged her down to the ground again. "Okay, okay. We'll do the stupid breathing thing." He grumbled.

Ash smirked and settled on the ground again. She sat with her legs crisscrossed and had her hands lying limply in her lap. "First, it's more comfortable to sit like this. And don't slouch, your back will hurt before long."

Jason straightened up and let his hand lie in his lap. "Okay, what next?"

"Next, relax and focus on your breathing. Find a rhythm that you're comfortable with. Count heartbeats or seconds, it doesn't matter. Just let your body find its natural rhythm." She instructed in a low soothing voice.

Jason saw that she had her eyes closed, and he snapped his shut. He focused on his breathing, taking deep breaths. Inhaling through his mouth and exhaling through his nose slowly. Ash had set a rhythm of her own, taking a much slower pace than he was, but he knew better than to try to match her.

"Good," she said after a moment. "Now, if you want, you can let your mind go." Her tone was low and relaxed.

"How do you do that?" Jason asked. He was very relaxed now, every muscle loose in his body.

"Imagine that your head is surrounded by wall. Don't go breaking them down or anything, you'll need them to come back. Just let yourself tip them over or swing them open like a door. Your mind is like a liquid, it will take on the shape of its container. If you give it an opening, it will spill out." Ash explained.

Jason felt Ash presence all around him once again. It was comforting and encouraging, letting him know that she will continue to help him. He turned his focus inward and saw the walls that suddenly appeared in his mind. He went up to them and pressed a hand against them. He gently pushed and the wall tipped over and he stepped out.

Jason almost gasped at what he saw and felt, he would have if it were not for the fact that he was in a deeply relaxed state. He saw Feuer's aura over to the right, it matched his in its vibrancy. Mercury next to him was clad in a silvery blue, it was brighter and radiated out farther than Feuer's. Still where the walls once stood, Jason wondered why that was, but dismissed it when his attention was caught by Ash's aura.

It was like he was looking at the embodiment of a thunderstorm, with clouds flashing from lightning within. Where Mercury looked like a summer's day, Ash looked like the raging storm that would appear out of nowhere, causing so much noise with her thunder and fire from her lightning strikes. And beyond that, her aura radiated outwards, encompassing her in a thick cloud of power. Did Ash even know how much power she naturally had?

Jason couldn't hold his mind anymore and he started to gather up what had leaked out. It didn't take long, but soon enough his mind was safely back within his barriers and he was opening his eyes to stare at Ash. She was still meditating, but he was tired. One of the side effects of expanding the mind if Jason had to guess. It wasn't an unpleasant experience, but not something he wanted to spend time on every day.

After a few minutes, Ash opened her eyes and found Jason staring at her as if she was some kind of world wonder. His fiery gaze was locked onto her stormy one and they sat there frozen for a moment.

Finally, Jason spoke. "Do you have any idea how much magic you have?"

Ash was taken aback. She never had to worry about magic. "Um…no? It hasn't been an issue until recently…" She scratched her cheek, suddenly shy.

Jason reached forward and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to keep looking at him. "You have more magic than me, Garret, and A'ilarin combined. How? How could you have not known this? How hasn't it taken control of you yet?"

"I don't know!" The rapid fire question made her uneasy, scared even. She shoved his hands off of her shoulders. "I've never really had an issue with my magic. I didn't even know I had magic until you pointed it out a month ago," she snapped.

"Ash, your magic is much stronger than it was a month ago when I felt it, even compared to yesterday when we found out what it was. What's changed?" Jason asked, worry in his eyes.

Ash could not stand sitting still any longer, she stood up and started to pace, hugging herself. "I don't know. I've never purposefully used magic before. I knew it existed but I've never used it."

Jason sighed in frustration and let his head fall into his hand. He could not tell if this was a good or a bad thing. He could not tell if Ash simply had an innate control over her magic. He looked up at her again, watching her pace back and forth in front of him. He had unwittingly scared her by telling her that her magic had grown without her knowing about it.

"Hey, Ash?"

She whirled around, her eyes flashing. "What." She was in no mood for any more questions about her magic, not when she was so close to possibly losing control.

"Just take a deep breath. I was just surprised when I saw it. I didn't… I didn't mean to scare you by implying that you would lose control over your magic," Jason tried to explain. It wasn't working well, for whatever reason, Ash was being unreasonably angry about this.

"No, it doesn't work like that, Jason. Magic just doesn't grow like that. I haven't even used magic." Ash snarled. She turned and stalked towards the house. "We are done talking about this."

Jason scrambled to his feet. "Hey, we can't just ignore this. Ash! If it keeps growing it will consume you, all Riders know that. Ash? Ash!"

She was ignoring him at this point and didn't even bother to help with dinner. She stormed up to her room and slammed the door in his face. Jason sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat before making his way back downstairs. He sat down at his place at the table and promptly let forehead hit it. Ash was being paranoid about the whole magic thing he knew. It did not help that with his episode the night before, it is no wonder that she would be wary about magic. It was dangerous. There was no getting around that. What was he going to do? If she wasn't willing to listen to him about it, then how was he supposed to teach her?

He sighed and sat up, running a hand through his hair. For now, he was just going to let her calm down. There was no point in pushing the issue. Sooner or later, A'ilarin came from the kitchen with two bowls full of stew. She set one down and front of him and began to eat hers. Jason just pushed his spoon through his, not exactly hungry.

After watching the boy play with his food, A'ilarin finally decided to say something. "If I didn't know any better, I'd bet that meditation didn't end well did it?"

Jason shook his head. "Not exactly." He let his spoon rest against the lip of the bowl. "I finally got a gauge on how much magic she actually has. I knew it was atleast as much as mine, but I didn't know that it would be so much more. It's probably three times bigger than mine is. How does she have so much?"

A'ilarin took a moment to study the boy. He looked like he just witnessed the birth of a god and found out that he was friends with them. The veteran Rider knew Ash had great power but she was never able to full see how large it was with her limited sight during meditation. She could barely see colors.

"What did Ash tell you about her parents?" A'ilarin asked in a low voice.

"Not much. She mostly talked about her siblings last night." The boy answered.

"Then I will let her tell you about them." The Rider said. She sounded distant, like she knew why Ash's magical capabilities were enormous. "Eat your stew. It will get cold soon." With that, she got up from the table and left.

Jason quickly wolfed down the stew, but didn't go for another bowl like he had last night. Instead he simply washed his bowl out and made his way out side.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash was fuming inside her room. She was mostly angry at herself for getting so worked up over the amount of magic she had. In truth she was scared that it would be too much for her to control when the time came. She flopped on to her bed and screamed into her pillow in frustration. Ash flipped herself and glared twin holes into her ceiling. Sitting there doing nothing about this is going to get her nowhere. She knew that at some point she was going to have to apologize to Jason about storming away from him.

There was a knock at the door and upon sniffing the air, Ash knew it was A'ilarin. Her draconic sense had come in full force throughout the day and it surprised her how animalistic she had become. It has only been a day, for gods' sake. Ash merely grunted to let A'ilarin come into the room.

A'ilarin scoffed at the girl. She had made a wreck of her room in the twenty minutes it took for her and Jason to eat. It had to be a record for her.

Ash cast a baleful look at A'ilarin before rolling over onto her side and facing the wall. Her mentor sighed and she felt the bed dip as A'ilarin sat on the edge.

They had sat like this before whenever Ash decided it was time to throw a tantrum, but this was not simply a girl being upset over nothing. Ash was clearly worried about what would happen to her if her magic continued to grow.

A'ilarin sighed and laid her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Ashley,"

"What?" was her muttered reply, the yelling she had done into her pillow had left her voice slightly hoarse.

"Why are you worrying about this?" There was no need to explain what 'this' was, they both knew what the other was referring to.

"Won't it consume me if it keeps growing?"

A'ilarin highly doubted that and told the redhead as much. "It is a possibility but a very low one at that. Your routine of meditating everyday has made it so it will be harder to lose control when you start to learn how to use it."

Ash looked over her shoulder, quirking an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'routine of meditating'? You told me I would be grounded from flying if I ever skipped out on it."

"It was the right decision on my part to threaten that if you did. I knew from the very beginning that you had an exponential amount of magic. Meditation was the only way to keep it from going out of control much earlier." A'ilarin explained calmly.

"But that still doesn't explain why I have so much! Look at you. Your magic doesn't come close to mine, I can see it. You are only lightly outlined in it. I look at Jason and he could practically cast a shadow with his. When I look at my hand, I don't see my hand, all I see is a blob that could be mistaken for an arm. A'ilarin, why is my magic so dense? It shouldn't be this way right?" Ash was practically hyperventilating once she finished speaking.

A'ilarin rubbed her back, and waited for Ash to calm down before she spoke again. "Your father worked for the Governments, correct?" Ash nodded, not quite sure why this had anything to do with her previous family. "And you remember that the Governments wanted their own Rider, yes?" Again Ash nodded. "Even though I had found you in the woods by chance, you receiving Mercury in a package was not random. It was a calculated move by the Governments."

" _What?_ "

* * *

 **Sorry not sorry about the drama, haha.**

 **To kinda recap the last couple chapters, we got information about Jason. I was thinking at some point I'll do a flashback for him to when he found Feuer's egg and how he really met Garrett. Just to give you a better picture about his childhood, wouldn't that be nice?**

 **Then there's Ash. She is the main character, so she will have few more things happen to her compared to the others. And to be honest, I never really planned that she would be a part of some scheme from the stories antagonist. But it will justify how her family treated her before she left, again that just kind of just happened. Originally she was just going to be some random girl with a crazy amount of magic, but this happened and I kinda like it better than my original idea.**

 **And don't worry about their armorer, we will meet them. Eventually. Like anywhere between 1-5 chapters from now. Promise. Well, I hope so, it's the plan, but I don't know where my muse will take me.**

 **Needless to say, next chapter will be a little different than the rest of them. So hang in there with me, 'kay?**

 ***Starts playing the only record I have* PLEASE REVIEW. PRETTY PLEASE? JUST PLEASE REVIEW. (aaaannnnd this goes on for like 5 minutes...) Like I'm too the point that I won't post a new chapter till I get a few reviews. Can I get like 3 new reviews? Is that too much to ask? I can take what you guys can throw at me, constructive criticism is great. If something isn't working, tell me! If something is working really well? FRICKIN TELL ME! I really wanna know what you guys think. So pretty please?**

 **There's my rant for this chapter. Not going to apologize for the length of this AN. Just really wanting some reviews so I know y'all are actually reading my story and these ramblings that happen at the end.**

 **Peace**

 **Mogey**


	17. Chapter 17

**The muse struck me with this chapter and it was done before I knew what happened. SO here it is, in all its glory. I'm quite proud of it, and I wanted to share with you all. So much for an update schedule..or my threat.. I'm such a pushover and you guys didn't even do anything. What have I come to?**

* * *

 **Here we go.** **Let the fun begin!**

* * *

Chapter 17

Ash could not believe what A'ilarin was saying.

 _She_ was the product of Government experimentation?

What kind of world do they live in where human experimentation was still a thing?

Ash sat there, slack jawed as a million questioned ran circles in her head. Her emotions were running high and she could hear the house creak with the wind as her magic responded to them.

A'ilarin did not offer any further explanation as Ash continued to gape at her.

"You're joking," Ash began to laugh at the absurdity of it all. "There's no way the Governments were getting away with human experimentation. Wasn't that, like, outlawed or something?"

A'ilarin met her swirling eyes, and shook her head solemnly. She sobered up quickly and Ash could feel the lightening spark in her eyes as her temper flared.

"Well, don't just sit there staring at me. Tell me what the fuck happened to me," she snapped. A'ilarin's face hardened at her crude language but she took a deep breath as she prepared to begin this story.

"It is not a happy story, are you sure you want to know about this?" She asked. Ash's mental stability was at stake here.

Ash's history had never been glamorous. From a very young age she had been subjected to more than anyone else would have in their whole lives. Even Riders never experienced such cruelties when they had been prisoners of war.

"Quit stalling and tell me."

A'ilarin looked up at Ash once more, noting how there was a lightning storm raging within her eyes. She sighed and prepared herself to tell the more disturbing she knew.

* * *

Eric moved about the lab, noting the different sets of data that each monitor displayed. The experiment was moving along well. Magic output was increasing every time he ran the experiment and the subject was holding up well compared to the others. There was a clear distinction between natural born magic users and those that inherited it along familial lines.

It was a conundrum though. This subject's parents were both non-magical, not having either inherited or born naturally with any magic. But this subject was simply radiating magical power. Through certain lenses, Eric could see the way their aura stretched out away from the subject's body. It nearly filled up the room.

The current run of the experiment was drawing to a close, and the machines in front of him began to spit out more raw data for him to analyze tomorrow. It was quite late at night, and he still had yet to alter the subject's memories. The memory alterations made it much easier for him to have a cooperative subject. The research lab had found out very quickly that without the removal of the memories, the subjects were more likely to fight the experiment, withholding their magic any way they could, and due to the nature of the experiments, it had resulted in many braindead subjects that they could no longer use.

That being said, the magical extraction process he had developed turned out to be more painful than expected. He never had the intention to hurt any of the subjects, but at this point he had no choice. The process required brain scanners, body scanners, and series of shocks to force the magic into action. Each subject had a different level, the younger they were, the less pain they were forced to endure. And the more a subject tried to fight the test, the higher they had to set the machine to draw out the magic. It also included multiple blood tests throughout the day, but never exceeding more than five.

Eric turned off the magic extraction devices and removed all of the sensors that were hooked up to the subject. He gathered the child into his arms, cradling them gently. Moving into the next room, he sat the child down and attached the head brace of another machine. His coworker had developed this machine to alter memories. He flipped a switch and stepped away from the child and machine.

The machine began its warm up processes and after a few moments, it emitted a series of noises telling Eric that it was ready to begin. He punched in a sequence into the display monitor and walked out of the room. Currently, his coworker was working on improving the process, and therefore speeding it up, but as of right now, Eric was forced to wait as the machine took atleast an hour to perform its task.

For now, he was content to start studying the data he had collected for the day. They had one other subject going through the same treatment, but the results were less than stellar. Since the first day with this subject, the magic output they had created had declined steadily, telling the researcher that they had been a naturally born magic user. Comparatively, the subject he had just moved to the memory remover had been an accident. The child's mother was distantly related to what the Riders referred to as their Elders. Apparently it was a very highly respected position for a Rider to achieve, and it normally took centuries for a Rider to reach that point. Eric had no idea was the requirements were, not that they mattered to him, but what he did know was that Elders and their descendants were gifted with a plethora of magic. Magic was still a difficult thing to predict, for instance, this subject's mother had no magic coursing through her body, but the subject was nearly overflowing, almost to the point of excess.

Eric ordered the papers for the first subject's results and stapled them together before putting them inside his attaché case. He would study them at home because he had to print off the latest results of his most promising subject. He worked his way around to each computer and began to print off every result from today. When he looked up at the clock, an hour had nearly passed and he hurried over to the room where he had left the child.

As he walked back into the room, the machine had just started to shut down, having completed its job. The child that sat in its seat had begun to stir, moaning from the headache that always ensued after having ones memories altered with.

Eric shushed and cooed at the child as he removed the head brace and let the child flop into his arms. He felt guilty for having to do this to a child of all things, he would prefer to do this to an animal, but unfortunately, hardly any animals had magic of their own. There had been a few cases of cats having magic, but finding them had proven to be more difficult that finding humans with magic. A dragon would be the ideal subject to test on, but those were even rarer than magical felines. The eggs that they had in the lab were already meant for experimentation but before they could do anything with them, they had to receive word from the head of the department that they could proceed.

Adjusting the child in his arms, Eric moved about the lab, gathering up the papers he had printed off not five minutes ago. He did not bother to staple them together, instead opting to put them into an empty manila folder before stuffing it into his bag. He shut down all of the machines in the lab, and fished his keys out of his pocket. Walking out the door with the child and his bag, he locked the doors behind them.

The building was void of people, with it being close to midnight, he expected no less. He always remained at the lab until this time. It ensured that no one would find out where he was bringing the child from. If they knew, the child would instantly be taken away from him and given to another researcher and forced to live at the lab with the rest of the subjects they currently had on hand.

Eric exited the building and hurried over to his car. Quickly unlocking it and opening the rear passenger door, he placed the child in a car seat, buckling her up as her lolled to the side in her sleep. The child's hair, curly and a blazing red, even at night, fell across her face as she continued to sleep off the day. Eric gently brushed the hair out of her face, humming a light melody to keep her asleep, and tucked it behind her ear. Double checking that she was secured in the car seat, Eric shut the door and climbed into his own respective seat. Within a minute or two, he was driving off, leaving the research facility.

The drive back to his home took the majority of an hour. He had to drive around a mountain before he even reached the town that he lived in. It was close to being dawn, two or three in the morning, by the time he pulled into the drive way. He parked the car and grabbed his bag out of the passenger seat and exited the vehicle. The dog was barking at the sound of the car door slamming, but Eric ignored it and focused on unbuckling the little girl in the back seat. She snuggled into him and he felt another pang of guilt shoot him through the gut as he walked into the house. He shushed the dog as it came running up with a toy in its mouth, making excited sounds as he closed the door, its tail going a hundred miles per hour. He felt the girl stir and push away from his shoulder.

"Are we home now?" she asked quietly, rubbing her eye with one hand.

"Yeah, we are, sweetie. Do you want to say hi to Beaux?" he said soothingly. The girl nodded, and he set her down on the ground so she could pet the dog.

The girl walked towards the dog and it pranced towards her and sniffed her face, eliciting a giggle from the child. She reached out and scratched the dog behind the ears.

Eric turned away from the two and moved into the next room that he had claimed as his office. Setting his attaché down, he leaned down onto his desk, staring at the lacquered wood that glared up at him. His guilt was starting to become a hindrance. At work, he was having a hard time keeping a rational head as he watched his little girl go through the tortures he had planned out for the experiment's timeline. The Governments had not found out that this little girl was his oldest daughter. He had another, but she was still too young to be showing any signs of magic. His son had not shown any signs either, remaining as normal as could be.

His daughter tossed the toy Beaux had brought to him initially down the hall. The large dog bounding after it. He called out to her and scolded her for riling up the dog. She peeked around the door and apologized immediately before telling him that she was going to bed, and wished him a good night.

 **.../\\...**

This went one for two more years and now Eric's daughter was now five years old, almost six. They had continued to experiment on her, and over the years, Eric had slowly decreased his involvement in her tests, leaving it to his assistants, but continued to analyze the data thoroughly. Her results had continued to astound them, her magical output had increased over the two years, and showed no signs of stopping. Her aura had become as thick as storm clouds, sometimes sparking out towards them as they walked around her during the experiment.

As of right now, they were currently waiting on the go ahead to start pairing the subject with the most promise with one of the eggs in the lab. The most promising subject was his daughter, and he secretly hoped that she would not have to go through another level of the experiment. But he knew that it was a long shot. The higher ups had been thoroughly impressed with results that they were receiving, and would more than likely give them permission to move to the next stage.

Soon enough, after setting his daughter in the seat to wipe her memory of the day, he received an excited call from his supervisor about moving onto the next stage. They were to bring the child to another part of the facility and see which eggs reacted the most to her. They had learned over the years that dragons and Riders were paired based on their magical compatibility. Say the Rider had water magic, the dragon paired with them would either have water magic alongside them or ice magic. When the dragon is still inside its egg, it simply based its decision upon the aura that the Rider near it was emitting. It had been historically known that not every Rider was paired with a dragon, and the researchers were hoping that they had a subject that would cause an egg to hatch.

Eric hung up the phone as the supervisor continued to ramble, muttering an apology and an explanation for having to go beforehand. He glanced at his wristwatch, noting that the machine should be about halfway done with its cycle. He went through the motions, gathering up his papers and shutting down the machines as he waited for the machine's timer to go off. Soon enough it did and he gathered up his child and left for the night.

 **.../\\...**

The next few weeks were uneventful. Despite the go ahead to start exposing test subjects to the dragon eggs, nothing they had done had been able to give them any sort of quantifiable reaction to study. Eventually, Eric, exasperated with sitting and watching subjects sit with the eggs all day, every day, came up with an idea. He was in a meeting with his supervisor about it now.

"All I'm saying is that maybe the eggs need more interaction than just the subjects being in the same room as them. Right now, we have all of them together in the same room. They probably can't decide who is who because they are all crowded together," he explained fervently. "What if we gave the most promising subject an egg they seem to like more over the others and let them have it for a day or two to themselves? That would give us higher chances of maybe one of the eggs hatching for us." He cringed inwardly, knowing that he was putting his daughter at risk to be emotionally traumatized if an egg happened to hatch and bond with her.

His supervisor thought for a moment, reclining back in his chair behind his desk. "It's an interesting line of thought. Which subjects are the most promising as of right now?"

"There's the girl, subject 26798, she has been the one to put out the most magic to date. The next is subject 14894, but he has been on the decline since last month. Same with subject 13547." Eric prattled off, flicking through the case files he had brought with him.

"Let the girl have the first go. She might be able to get a reaction out of any of them. If not, we will have to transfer more eggs here." His supervisor dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Eric left the office and let out an exhausted sigh. He rubbed his temples as he made his way back to his part of the lab, where his daughter was currently sitting with the rest of the subjects, all eight of them, and the three eggs in the same room. He told his assistants to escort all the others out and leave the young girl in the room alone. She was the youngest out of all the subjects, and many of them had been old enough to attend school for a few years before they had been taken to the lab. They knew what the eggs were from the very moment that had laid eyes on them, and never stepping with three feet of the dragon eggs. Upon seeing everyone else avoiding the eggs, his daughter had followed the group and stayed away from them as well, but he saw the curiosity in her eyes and knew that she wanted to look at them closer than what everyone else seemed to be comfortable with. All this without a word to each other.

Once all of the other subjects had been cleared out of the room, it took only a few moments for his daughter to get up from her corner and step towards the eggs. They were lined up on side of the room, each having its own pedestal on table to keep them from rolling around. His daughter approached the one that looked like a ball of silver on the table. Eric flipped down the lenses he used to examine her aura and saw something extraordinary.

Her aura had always been a dark storm cloud of purple, almost black, but as she got closer and closer to the egg she was focused on, it slowly began to lighten up, looking more like the purple he would see in the clouds when the sun was setting. The egg itself had a silvery blue aura, very light in color, reminding him of the rising sun on an exceptionally clear day. Both auras reached out to each other and seemed to meld together the closer they got to each other. At this, Eric took off his lenses and left the observation mirror. He hurried over to the monitors that were in the room with him and all of them were spouting off the same thing and confirming what he thought.

This egg and his daughter were a match.

Outwardly, he forced a smile into place, but on the inside he was crying out in anguish. This had been his last chance to remove his child from this awful place. Now it was going to be nigh impossible. He called over one of his assistants that was walking by and told him to put the child in the memory machine but not to start it. They had to be careful with how they altered her memory from now on, they could not have her finding out every day that the egg with her was special. They needed to cultivate the bond very carefully, making sure she knew that the egg was important, but not important enough to halt the experiment when it came time to separate them.

Eric walked into the room and knelt down in front of his daughter.

"You okay, sweetie? You seem a little tired." He refused to use her name in this place. This habit being built over the years had actually spread into their home, the only ones to use her actual name had been his wife and her brother now that he was beginning to form coherent speech.

The girl nodded. "I really wanna go home. When can we go home?"

Eric smiled sadly at her. "We can go home as soon as we are done with this here, okay? You can nap through this if that will make you feel better." He patted her head gently and stood up.

"Okay," came the reply from his daughter as he began to fiddle with the settings on the machine. He was thankful that his coworker had made an update to the system and now they could implant memories into the subject in the seat. He chose to set this day as the first day of school and she had gotten a silver ball as a present for being a good girl at school. He already placed the head brace on and pressed the start button.

 **.../\\...**

For three more months, a new routine was formed. Eric would bring his daughter to the lab and have her sit with egg and watch their auras interact with each other as his daughter colored throughout the day. After the initial contact between the two, they found that having the other subjects in the room did not affect how their auras actively sought each other out. So they had brought them all into the same room once more in hope that two more would form the aural connection.

Since then, nothing has changed. None of the other subjects were brave enough to go near the eggs and it was halting the progress of the rest of the experiment. The egg that his daughter had been matched with still had yet to hatch and Eric was on the verge of ripping his hair out waiting for something new to happen.

Again, he found himself in his supervisor's office with another idea.

"What is it now, Eric? Has something developed?" He asked once Eric had shut the door behind him.

Eric shook his head. "No, nothing has happened since the first day when contact had been made. Subject 26798 and Egg 2 have yet to interact at all beyond their aural connection."

"Any ideas on how to force something to happen?"

"You know that the child is from an orphanage in the next town over correct? The reason why she doesn't stay here with the rest of the subjects is because they haven't given me full rights to her yet." His supervisor scoffed. Eric knew it was a terrible lie, but his supervisor had bought it. "I know, something about paperwork being filed incorrectly and only just finding out about it. Anyways, it looks like the paperwork should be all sorted out by the end of the week, what if I keep her under surveillance at my home with the egg? She hasn't been physically interacting with the egg since the first day, and that is because of the other subjects being in the same room as her. Psychologically, their avoidance of the eggs all together has told her that being near them is not acceptable, so she is avoiding the egg that matched with her as well. Having physical contact with it might speed up the process."

His supervisor furrowed his brows together as he tapped away at his computer, thinking deeply about what Eric had said. After a moment, he spoke, "I'll give you my answer at the end of the week. I'll run it by my advisor and see what she thinks of this. I think it will work, but she is the one in control of those eggs."

The end of the week could not come fast enough. He finally had a chance to somehow remove his daughter from the situation. He had the chance to come up with a story that would allow him to take back the egg and free his daughter of this torture. Mentally, she was showing no side effects, but her body was showing the signs of abuse. Over time they had been forced to increase the level of shocks her body had to endure in order for her magic to react. What they had done was unintentionally strengthen her resolve.

Just as he was promised, Eric received word that the child was allowed to have the egg at home, under his surveillance. Thankfully that day they had yet to start any experiments on her, so he had no need to wipe her memory. He ordered one of his assistants to box up the silver egg and by lunch, he was on his way home again.

His daughter was quiet in the back seat. They never really talked to each other, only speaking to one another out of necessity. It was like that between her and her mother as well. His wife had picked up on the fact that she was different and had started to ostracize her unknowingly, often making her do all the chores in the house while she let her son play with the dog and she took care of her youngest daughter. The five year old did not seem to mind the changes, but when she thought no one else was looking, he could see the sad expression she had begun to carry on her face. His daughter knew that she was different but had no idea why anyone was treating her differently. He wanted so badly to be able to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be alright, but he had to keep his distance, for the sake of the experiment and his job.

He walked into the house, leaving the egg in the trunk of the car. His daughter had no idea that it was there. He had a plan to surprise her with it once they all settled back into the house. His wife had mentioned that they needed to go grocery shopping and would need his help with some of the items she needed for the house. They worked together to get all the children off to bed for an afternoon nap before getting ready to leave. He left the box on the door step of their house. Eric quickly scribbled her name onto the box, that way his daughter would actually open it once she got it inside.

 _Please, Ashley, don't let me down._

* * *

 **Aaaannnndd we have come full circle with that.**

 **I tried really hard to convey that Ash's father, Eric, was really unhappy with experimenting on his own kid, but the Governments had forced him to bring her to the lab, less he lose his job. The lab itself doesn't know that Ash is his own daughter, but the people who run the Governments do, hence the job threat. That's the huge character flaw that I tried to give him: his job came before his family. But he still cared for his family but it was clear which had the priority (I hope). And where this little story leaves off, is where the actual story begins. Obviously there will be some disparities because we are looking at what an adult remembers versus childhood memories.**

 **You guys don't have to worry though, next chapter is back with our current characters. A'ilarin isn't quite done telling the story as there are a few loose ends to tie up before she has said that she wants to say about this. Considering that this chap isn't quite as long as I would have liked, I felt that it told the story well. It is a really dense chapter since there is little to no dialogue.**

 **That's all I have for now. Tell me what you liked and didn't like in a review if you would please!**

 **Mogey**

* * *

 **nikolasowa : Thank you for reviewing, I really do appreciate it! Plus you used all caps, so I obviously got you hooked. ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Alright team, we got this.**

* * *

Chapter 18

The story was almost over, but it was all Ash could take. When A'ilarin had stopped speaking after he described her father leaving Mer's egg on her front porch before leaving, she spoke up.

"So…so everything t-that I know i-is basically a lie?" she asked.

A'ilarin could not meet her eyes. She heard the rain coming down and the door slam downstairs as Jason ran inside. "Not everything is a lie."

"That's bull, A'ilarin. You just told me that my whole childhood was spent being carted around and experimented on by my own dad. He altered my memories! How am I supposed to know what is real?" Ash curled up on herself, pulling at her hair.

"Your memories have been your own since Mercury was left on your doorstep. It was your father's wish to remove you from that situation. He was desperate to get you out of there. He gave you the egg in hopes that it would not hatch and you would be of no use to them anymore." A'ilarin attempted to console her.

"B-but how the hell do you know a-all of this? You told me that you hadn't known about me until you found me in the woods the day Mer hatched."

A'ilarin sighed and looked towards the doorway of Ash's room. "The machine they used to wipe your memories did not remove them, only suppressed and wrote over them. All of your memories were there. One night when you were having a nightmare, you broadcasted them to me without knowing. The whole story was there."

Ash was silent for a moment. "I-I see…"

"Ashley, I am sorry that I had to tell you like this. I was hoping to either avoid it completely or tell you in a better manner," A'ilarin apologized.

"What happens, happens. There's no changing that. Atleast my dad tried to help me even if it didn't seem like it." Ash sighed. She rested her chin on her knees and stared out her window into the rain. The weather had taken to mirroring her emotions now that her magic was active.

"Are they still there? Where I left them?" she asked absentmindedly.

A'ilarin sucked in a breath before answering her. "The…the governments burned the whole town after they found you missing. No one…no one made it out."

Ash closed her eyes and nodded. She could feel the tears building up behind her lids. It was only last night that she had first thought of them in the past eleven, almost twelve years. She had just voiced her hopes to Jason about them. Her brother was to be learning how to drive. Her sister being popular and loved by everyone. She wanted them to be better off without her there. But instead she had caused their lives to end prematurely.

By running away with her dragon.

She was to blame for their problems.

She always was.

Thunder boomed outside. The storm was getting worse. She felt A'ilarin get up and leave the room, not having anything left to say. Ash was left to brood in silence beside the window. She knew that she had to calm down so that the storm would pass naturally at this point.

But she no longer cared.

The storm could level the whole forest and she would not even bat an eye.

The wind howled, matching the wailing Ash had inside of her head. Lightning flashed and thunder quickly followed. The rain came down in sheets, much like the tears that threatened to overflow. The trees were bent in the wind, some of them were even stripped of their leaves as the wind raced its way through the valley.

She heard Jason's door slam open. He stomped down the hallway and came to pound on her door. Ash ignored him, hoping that he would go away and leave her alone. Atleast he had the decency to wait till she opened the door before barging in, the door was not even locked.

"Ash! I know you're still up. Open up!" he said, pausing his banging on her door.

She remained quiet, continuing to watch the rain slap against her window.

"Dammit, Ash, I will break down this door!"

Ash cast an angry glare at her door. The one time A'ilarin had broken down her door during one of the girl's moods, she made Ash replace and fix it. The whole door jamb had been splintered, nothing had been salvageable.

The pounding had picked up again. Begrudgingly, Ash untangled herself from her blankets and went over to the door. She opened it a crack before returning to her bed to stare out the window. Jason slowly opened the door, wary of the mess he immediately saw.

"Geez, I thought you were neater than this. It's like a tornado came through here," he attempted to lighten the mood by making a comment about the current state of her room. Lame.

"If that's all you want to talk about then you can leave."

Jason flinched at the Ash's tone of voice. It sounded dead, low and monotone. The rain continued to spray against the window, the storm showed no signs of letting up, possibly still being here in the morning.

"Don't worry, it's not. It's your room, you keep it the way you want," Jason shrugged as he navigated towards her bed.

Ash grunted dismissively as he sat down on the bed. "So what do you want then? I'm not really in the mood to talk."

"What happened to being friends and taking care of each other? I swear we had that conversation this morning." Jason leaned against the wall on the other side of the window. "Then again, I was still pretty sleepy, I could have imagined it all."

Ash sighed, Jason was not going to go away. "It happened."

"Then what's got your wings clipped? You nearly drowned me out there when the rain started it. Totally wiped out my fire." He looked over at her, watching her expressions.

She winced and tightened her arms around her knees. "I don't want to talk about it," she muttered.

"That's bull. Unfortunately for you, if you don't talk about it, this storm will keep going till the whole forest has been wiped out."

Ash leveled a sad glare at him. "I know, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Why? Why don't you want to talk about it?" Jason brought up a knee and wrapped an arm around it. He gave Ash is undivided attention once he was settled.

"B-because I can't, okay?" She closed her eyes, warding off the tears that were threatening to spill over. She would not cry, she had no right to cry over them.

"Ash."

"No, I won't say anything, I can't say anything, okay? I don't want to!" She crumpled in on herself, drawing everything into a tight ball. She rested her head on her knees and tightened her arms. If she could avoid looking at him, her eyes would stay dry.

The rain came down harder, hard enough that if Jason looked outside, he would not even be able to see edge of the roof underneath Ash's window.

"Ash, come on. This is borderline ridiculous," he sighed.

Gods above, could he just leave her alone? She did not want him here in her room. She wanted to be alone.

"What's ridiculous is you continuing to bother me about something I don't want to talk about." Came the reply, muffled by her knees.

"Fine, I won't ask about it, but I'm staying here till you calm down."

"You don't have to. I am calm."

"Tell that to the thunderstorm raging outside. You're not fooling me."

Ash felt herself begin to tremble, and she withdrew even farther. "I don't know what you are talking about," she denied again.

"I'll leave once you stop the torrential downpour."

"I don't need you here for me to do that. You can go."

Jason scoffed, "Like that is going to happen. Ash, you can't be there for someone else when you won't let anyone be there for you. You're being a hypocrite."

Ash lifted her head and glared at him. "Maybe it's because I don't deserve anyone to be there for me. I'm fine being on my own."

"No, you're not okay on your own. If it weren't for A'ilarin finding you and Garrett finding me, neither of us would be here. We would be on either side of this blasted continent with no friends," Jason snapped. "Tell me you don't want any friends when you forced yourself to help me through my problems last night. Tell me a friend wouldn't have helped you out while you were being bullied on the first day of school. You can lie to yourself all you want, but you're not fooling me. Face it, we _are_ friends, and I don't care if you're regretting that now, but I'm sticking around whether you like it or not." His eyes were blazing and Ash could feel the heat rolling off of him.

Lightning flashed outside, but the thunder was slower to follow, and the rain let up slightly. Still, Ash was not having any of this.

"You can go be my friend somewhere else. Leave me alone."

"Not until the weather lets up."

"I want the weather like this. It can do what I can't." Ash turned her stormy eyes to the storm outside. The rain began to pick up again.

"The weather is the weather. You control it, it does what you want. How can it be doing something you can't?"

Ash sighed, and dug her nails into her arms, warding off the tears once more. "It can cry for me…"

Jason drew up short. "What? W-why is it crying for you?" he asked softly.

"B-because I don't deserve t-to cry for them." She was so close to breaking. She hated it. She hated feeling this weak. She was stronger than this.

Jason waited a moment, wanting her to continue. But when no answer came he spoke up. "Who, Ash? Who are you talking about?" He reached out and touched her knee, grabbing her attention. "Who, Ash? I can't help if you don't tell me," he said gently.

Ash bit her lip and looked away, closing her eyes against the tears the plagued her. "I can't cry over them. I-it was my fault. I…they're all…it's all m-my fault…" Her breathing was ragged, it was painful to be holding back the flood that threatened to spring forth from her eyes. She could feel the pull on her magic as the rain came down harder.

"Hey, hey, shh… it's gonna be okay…" Jason gathered his friend up and hugged her to his chest, recognizing the signs of a panic attack. Her breathing was erratic and the wind matched it. "Ash, hey, it's going to be okay. Come on, breath. In and out, slowly. Okay, that's better. You're just meditating, okay? There you go, keep that up for minute." He kept encouraging her to get a hold of herself.

The combination of his soothing words and his campfire and brimstone scent was powerful and calming. After another minute of him talking and her breathing, Ash finally felt herself calm down enough to talk again. The rain had dropped off to merely a drizzle compared to the waterfall it was before.

"Okay, I'm okay," she sat up, but didn't move away from Jason. She leaned into his chest, their legs were tangled and his arms were around her waist.

"You sure?" he asked quietly.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good"

Her head was against his shoulder and he rested his chin on top of it. "If you say so."

They were quiet for a few moments, letting the sound of water rushing through the gutters and dripping off the trees permeate the silence. Later they would both be embarrassed at the way they were tangled up in one another, but for now they were content to just sit there. Ash was feeling the emotional and magical strain from the night and was beginning to nod off before Jason spoke again.

"Do you want to talk about it now or…?" he asked.

"Not really. The storm will just pick up again, and I don't want to be the one responsible for flooding the valley."

"You seemed okay with that five minutes ago. Have a change of heart?" She felt Jason chuckle.

"Shut up." She slapped his chest in retaliation. "I was emotionally compromised."

"Sure, sure."

They sat in silence once more.

"So, you really don't want to talk about it, do you?" Jason asked. He just had to keep asking about it?

Ash huffed and sat up to glare at him in the eye. "How many times are you going to ask that?"

"Till you tell me who you were talking about." He grinned, his slightly pointed canines flashing in the light.

Ash narrowed her eyes. "And I told you I didn't want to talk about it from the very beginning."

"And I'm going to keep asking till you tell me. So level with me and tell me what's got you creating storms that can flood a valley." Jason stared right back.

Rolling her eyes, Ash turned so that her back was facing the window. "Why do you want to know so badly? It's not like it concerns you."

Jason brought a hand to his chest. "I'm offended that you don't trust me with this." The sarcasm was thick in his voice.

Ash rolled her eyes. She wanted to tell him, but it was her burden. Did she not force him to tell her his story last night? Why was she being such a hypocrite about this? Oh, that's right, she technically killed her family.

"Ash."

"What?"

"Why can't you tell me what's wrong?"

She drew up her knees and curled into herself again, staring at her pillow, away from Jason. "Because it's not your burden to bare."

Jason smacked her on the back of the head.

"Ouch, what the hell?" she whined as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Just taking a page out of your book," he said dismissively. "And I will sit here all night till you tell me what's up." His eyes flared with the same intensity as his voice. He was serious about this.

"It isn't your burden," Ash repeated.

He smacked her head again.

"Really?" She punched him in the shoulder in retaliation.

"You going to tell me what's up?" Gods, he was like a terrier, not leaving this alone.

"No, because it doesn't concern you."

Another smack.

"Will you cut that out?"

And another.

"Goddammit Jason! Stop!" Ash yelled and scrambled away from her friend, escaping to the other side of her bed.

"Not until you tell me what's going on. And don't think I'll chase you through the house either." He threatened, getting off the bed to stand in front of her, cutting off her main escape route.

She glared at him defiantly. It was like dealing with A'ilarin, but with more words. A'ilarin could get her to cave with simply a look. He was intent on getting her to spill by bothering her until she could not stand him asking her anymore.

They glared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Ash was having an internal war within herself and Jason was growing impatient. Ash truly felt the need to tell him about what A'ilarin had just revealed to her, but on some level, she felt that he would no longer trust her because of her newfound history.

"Will you promise me something then?" she asked quietly, her eyes never leaving his.

"Sure, name your price. As long as you spill afterwards." He crossed his arms.

Ash looked away for a moment, gathering her courage before asking him. "Will you still trust me if I told you what A'ilarin told me?"

Jason was visibly confused. His brows furrowed and he frowned. "What is that supposed to mean? We are friends right? We're supposed to trust each other right?"

Ash lowered her head. "I don't know. If you know what I know about me, I wouldn't trust me either."

"Ash, that doesn't make any sense…"

She glanced up at him. "Just promise me, okay? If you don't, I'm not telling." Ash winced, and turned away quickly. She sounded like such a child right now.

"Okay, okay, I promise. Now what's the big deal?"

"I'm not who I thought I was." She began, but she had to stop as she felt the tears build up again. Gods above, there had to be some way to get through this without crying.

"Soo… this is a case of multiple personality disorder?" Jason ventured in her silence.

Ash jerked her head and gaped at him. "Wha-No? My person…Where the hell did you come up with that?" she sputtered, confused.

Jason shrugged. "Well you said that you weren't who you thought you were, so it could have been a split personality coming through and all your memories are all jumbled up."

"Well the memory part is true…" Ash muttered, looking away once more.

"What's wrong with your memory? You forget your name or something?" Jason was trying really hard to lighten the mood. He had yet to succeed in making her even smile tonight.

"I didn't forget my name, you dolt. Everything from the past eleven, twelve years is fine. It's just… everything before that is all wrong…" She trailed off after snapping at him. The tears threatened to spill over again. At this point it was a losing battle for her, but she was not one to give in that easily.

Jason sat back down on the bed in his previous spot, he knew she was not going to get up and leave now that he got her talking. "Well, if you think about it, no one really is capable of remembering that far back. Human memory banks have always had limited storage."

"Jase, I never went to school before going to high school this year." She hoped he would catch on and make this conversation shorter.

"You said you were homeschooled by A'ilarin, that she taught you everything." He tilted his head, still confused about what she was getting at.

Of all times for him to be dense. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands in frustration. "No, no, that part is true. She did practically raise me from a very young age. I'm talking before we met each other. Before she found me in the woods of my hometown."

"So with your original family? Are they just a figment of your imagination or something?"

"Ugh, no! Gods, can you stop being so dense? Shut up and let me talk!" Ash snapped.

Jason glared at her. "Well I wouldn't have to speak up if you wouldn't take so long in continuing."

"You're insufferable…"

"So are you."

"Shut up."

"I will if you keep talking."

"Then stop responding!"

"Come on, you're getting off topic."

Ash was ready to strangle him. Taking a deep breath and counting to ten, she seriously questioned how they had maintained a friendship before this. Oh right, he did not talk nearly as much before she found him in the woods a week ago.

"Well are you gonna keep going?"

"Oh my gods, shut up! I was getting there!" Ash rubbed her temples. She did not remember having Jason push her buttons like this at all. What was with him tonight?

"Then keep going. I swear there are like minutes between where you leave off and when I start talking, you keep disappearing to that little world of yours. Maybe you should let me join, it looks like a lonely place from the way your face looks," said boy rambled.

"Fine! I was basically raised in a lab where they experimented on my magic and that's why I have so much and why it's so fricking thick. They even had Mer there with them and we were paired almost immediately from the beginning. My own dad tampered with my memories so I had no idea about any of this until A'ilarin told me about it. That's why my memories about school are all fake. Then on top of that my dad thought it would be a good idea to leave Mer's egg with me while they went grocery shopping and he happened to hatch the one time I was left alone in the middle of the day. And they didn't expect me to run away with him, so the Governments decided it was a good idea to bomb the whole town. No one survived. There are you happy you know now?" Ash was panting by the time she finished. Tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes and she angrily rubbed them away as she glared at her knees.

Jason's eyes were wide, it was a lot to take in. Now he knew why she thought she did not deserve to cry over her family.

"Well…that was a lot to take in…" he managed to say.

She shot him an upset look. "No, you don't say." The sarcasm in her voice was as thick as a wool blanket.

"Hey, I got nothing to say to that." He raised his hands in surrender. "Is there something you want me to say?"

She looked away from him once more. "I don't know. I'm having a hard time believing it myself."

Jason took the moment of silence to scoot over to her and lean on her. "Well, you're still you, so I don't see why I wouldn't trust you after finding that out."

"But they messed with my head! Who know what else they changed?"

Jason shrugged. "They can't change it now can they? You're stuck with what they gave you. But from what it seems like, they only messed with the stuff that was about the experiments. And if I were you, I wouldn't want to remember that either. Your dad seemed nice for doing only that to you."

Ash shrugged in return, leaning her head against his shoulder, seeking comfort in his unnatural heat. Bless him for having fire magic. "Yeah, I guess…"

"I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, though. It's like you told me last night: the whole thing isn't your fault. You had no way of knowing what was going on that whole time. You can't tell me you have some power to see the future with that freaky weather ability of yours too, I would have felt that in your aura." He nudged her in the shoulder playfully.

Ash nudged him back. "Yeah whatever you say. I still killed the whole town."

Jason's eyes turned into twin infernos. "You killed them no more than I killed Garrett. Stop telling yourself that. It will only make the guilt worse."

"Says the guy who wallowed in grief for three years."

"And I don't want you to do the same thing, so stop this. Right now. Before it takes over."

Ash sighed and started to play with the ends of her hair. "It can't get that bad," she muttered.

"Ash, listen to me. It can and it will get that bad if you keep telling yourself that. I've only started to recover from it." Jason let his head thump against the wall behind them.

"Why's that? You couldn't have been depressed for that long."

Jason felt a blush creep into his cheeks as he looked away from her. "Well, I was. And I'm glad to be working out of it." He was acutely aware of how close they had been throughout this whole conversation, hell once she was nearly in his lap. This was not the time for his thoughts to be drifting that direction.

"If you say so," Ash let it go.

The rain was still going, but at this point it was a residual affect from the storm Ash had brewed up earlier. They were both content to sit in silence. Slowly, Ash was nodding off, leaning more and more into Jason. The stress of everything was finally catching up to her. Jason was not too far behind, he was slowly drifting off as well. They both fell asleep sitting against the wall.

Atleast she managed not to cry tonight.

* * *

In her study, A'ilarin contacted her equipment specialist, telling them that it would be another week before she and the two younger Riders would be able to make their way over. As of right now, there was too much going on. Ashley needed to learn to control her temper and her magic, the storm that had been raging a few moments ago had been proof enough. Jason needed to practice with his more as well. He already had great control over it, but he needed to get over his unconscious fear of his magic. The nightmare he had the night before was simply the embodiment of that fear. Much needed to be done before those two could meet her friend.

A'ilarin sighed and picked up her only picture of her and Garrett. She had really wished to tell Ashley about her family another way, but the girl had cornered her unintentionally. Ashley had been panicking, and she had the right to know what had caused her to have this much magic. So who was she to deny her that information? If she had developed normally beforehand, she would only have as much magic as Jason, maybe only slightly more considering her heritage. Jason on the other hand was an anomaly. As far as A'ilarin knew, he had no Rider background at all. He had mentioned in passing that he was an orphan before Garrett had found him, but it was still a long shot. Most of the Riders were wiped out during the war, and those that were left had scattered to the four corners of the world to escape capture.

A'ilarin recalled the promise she had made with Garrett before they had split up for their final time:

" _No matter what, we will find each other."_

It was not a glamorous promise, but for them, it was enough. As partners, they always had a knack for saving each other when either was in a tight situation. It was what made them one of the most successful pairs in the Corps. But they had taken that a step further by always knowing when the other was lost, they were there for each other emotionally as well. Nova and Nyetia were even a mated pair because of the emotional bond they all shared, and it had destroyed Nyetia to leave her twin eggs in the hatchery as they left for the better good of the Corps towards the end of the war. A'ilarin was certain that the Governments had raided the hatchery shortly after the Corps had been broken while they were gone. After that had happened, everything went downhill faster than an avalanche. She and Garrett were never given the chance to search for each other, nor did she even have the chance to go back and search for Nyetia's eggs.

A'ilarin and Nyetia had retreated to her hometown on the other side of the continent, away from the Government's capital. She was thankful that town's leadership had agreed to hide her presence from the Governments in case they came searching for her. Since then she had been living in this forest, only occasionally leaving to find a new hunting spot for Nyetia. It had been on one of those expeditions that she had found Ashley and Mercury wandering around in the forest.

A'ilarin smirked at the memory. Her first meeting with the girl, and she had the audacity to sass a complete stranger. Ash certainly had backbone, rarely backing down in any argument. But as soon as she met Jason, A'ilarin had noted a change in her behavior. Ashley was not quite as quick to run off and do something, or to think of someone else besides her and Mercury. Sending her to school had been the right decision, even for the brief amount of time she was actually there. Three to four months was not enough to actually make a difference, but it was a nudge in the right direction.

A'ilarin jumped when there was a knock at her door. Summoning some the magic she was able to use, she waved a hand and the door creaked open. She was still staring at her picture and did not feel the need to get up.

Jason walked into the room, looking slightly confused about the door moving on its own, but dismissed it when he saw what A'ilarin was still looking at. A'ilarin noted that he looked like her had just woken up.

"Yes, Jason?" she asked, setting the picture down and moving her attention to him.

"U-uh, I have-I have something for you," he muttered.

A'ilarin raised an eyebrow but remained silent, letting him decide to give her whatever he intended to give her on his own time. He shuffled around uncomfortably as he silently convinced himself. Eventually, Jason pulled out a small book and placed it on her desk.

A'ilarin noted that the book looked more like a very thick journal, with pages crinkled and weathered, some even sticking out of place. The binding was also heavily cracked and looking threadbare. The dark green cover had split open on the corners as well. She raised a hand to touch the cover, running her fingers over it.

"And what is this book about?" she asked gently, Jason was still shifting from one foot to the other uneasily for some reason.

"I-it was Garrett's m-memoir. He, uh, told me to give it to you once I found this town. I already read the part meant for me in the back, the rest is, um, the rest is for you," he explained.

A'ilarin nodded, "I see. Thank you, but what made you decide to give it to me now, and not when we first met?"

Jason cracked a small grin. "No offense but the first time we met, you took down Ash in a few seconds without waiting for an explanation about anything. Then it kinda slipped my mind. I only just remembered to do something about it with the whole nightmare thing last night and Ash's breakdown today."

"Ah," A'ilarin looked over at the picture once more. "Is she alright? When I finished talking to her, she seemed…"

"She seemed to be falling apart?" Jason guessed. When A'ilarin nodded he continued, "She pretty much was when I walked in, but she's asleep now. I managed to get her to spill what was bothering her and stop the hurricane outside. She really didn't want to talk about it right away."

"That explains the shouting match I heard earlier."

"Uh yeah, sorry about that," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I hope that book as some helpful information, but I'm gonna go back to bed now." He turned to leave.

"Jason?"

He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Thank you for looking out for Ash, I know she is not the easiest person to get along with, but I am sure she does appreciates you being there for her." A'ilarin smiled gratefully at him.

Jason snorted. "If anything, I'm the one who's hard to get along with. But I get your point." And with that he went back to his own bedroom.

A'ilarin smiled and shook her head. Who knew that those two would follow the same relationship that she and Garrett had shared. She cast a glance at the book Jason had given her but decided against reading it for now. She had all day tomorrow for that. Standing up from her desk, A'ilarin left her study, going to bed herself.

* * *

 **So that happened.**

 **To be completely honest with y'all, I feel like a lot of that chapter was a bunch of word vomit that happened to make sense? If _that_ even makes sense...**

 **On top of that, the last part of this chapter was meant to be something completely different but it didn't seem to fit with the way things were going and Jason really needed to give A'ilarin Garrett's little book of secrets. So yeah, I literally wrote the last 1k words like 10 minutes ago. It's not all that great but they get the job done atleast.**

 **If you have an idea on how to improve it, leave a review and I'll get back to you on that and give you credit for it if your idea happens to work with my story. I'm open to editing any of my chapters for this story that it makes better sense as a whole, cuz I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, lol. A lot of the times, I just have a scene playing in my head for each chapter and I just write it down, then I go back and edit it to make sure they continuity of the story still makes sense. So that's how these chapters are written.**

 **And to add on to that, I got nothin' for the next chapter, like the muse has left me and I have no idea where to go with this, and I want to be able to turn out chapters in a timely manner, ya know? So I guess, if you got an idea for the next part of the story, leave a review, and again I'll get back to you on it.**

 **Until next time, whenever that is...**

 **Mogey**

* * *

 **Btw, shout out to nikolasowa again for reviewing, really loving the encouragement! :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey, so I managed to figure something out, but it's a little short compared to the last few chaps. Hopefully this is up to snuff.**

* * *

Chapter 19

The next day, Ash was nowhere to be found. And by extension, neither was Mercury. But, judging by the winds that were ripping through the valley, she could not have been that far away. Her magic only seemed to reach within the surrounding hills of the valley so far, so she was definitely still within the valley.

She enjoyed her perch up on the hill, the one that Jason had found her on the other day when the whole 'we-know-your-magic-and-what-it-will-do-to-you-if-you-don't-master-it' ordeal. Ash would have liked to find a new place to stew over her thoughts, but this hill had the best view of the valley and the hills surrounding it. The view was postcard worthy, the way the hills rolled in and out from each other, and the way the trees were all starting to turn… Trust her, she did not spend the last twelve years of exploring this forest for nothing. Plus she was feeling lazy at the moment.

So it was to her mild irritation that Jason was able to find her by lunch. Only mild because if she were him, she would have guessed this place too. She should really find a new place. Maybe another hill? Atleast she had a few hours to herself before someone had to come out and find her.

But it just _had_ to be him…

"What're you doing out her?" he asked after hopping off of Feuer. Mer was out hunting in the surrounding hills.

"Was enjoying the peace and quiet before you showed up," she quipped, not turning to look at him as he sat down next to her. What kind of hint did she need to give off for him to leave her alone for a while? She just wanted a day or two time period where it was just her and Mer. Is that too hard to ask?

"Ouch, cold much?"

She let a warm breeze waft over her. "No, not really, just telling the truth."

Jason huffed, "Well, put the filter back on or something, you're no fun to talk to like this."

Ash shrugged. "Then don't talk to me." She was really in no mood to talk. She had let him drag out what information he wanted last night, even after all the fight she had put up, and she was not about to let him do it again so soon.

"Well then," he sulked, but made no move to get up and leave despite the lack of conversation.

That seemed to do the trick. Granted he was still sitting next to her on top of the hill.

On some level, she was grateful for that. It showed her that he was serious about being there for her whenever she needed it. But at the moment, it still irked her.

Ash focused on the fall colors that were popping up around the valley, depicting the change of seasons. She had a lot to think about was an understatement. She had already known that she was linked to the Governments, her dad was a researcher for them after all, but she had had no idea to what extent she was involved. Knowing that her own father had used her for Government experiments was shocking. She knew that at the time she was that young, the Governments had put out search warrants for anyone who showed signs of magic. Basically it was the witch trials. And she just happened to be a kid with a boat load of magic and then some according to the story A'ilarin had told her.

But who did that to their own kid in the first place?

She was thankful for the tampered memories because she was sure that she did not want to be able to relive anything from that lab ever. The fact that messing with heads had been the protocol for the experiment show how bad it was. The experiment seemed to be traumatizing… Yeah, she definitely did not want to remember any of that.

Who would have thought that she would be grateful for some crappy school memories? She must be a sadist or something to actually want that. Thanks to her dad, she atleast had those to fall back on.

As her temper flared at the thought, the breeze picked up. It was sharp enough to whip her hair away from her shoulder and catch Jason by surprise and knock him back onto the ground. Ash raised an eyebrow at him, but other than that, he was ignored by her. He flailed around before finally being able to right himself again. Talk about embarrassing. She was friends with this guy? She rolled her eyes and shook her head. She really did not deserve any friends right now. How were they supposed to know her if she did not know herself. She had thought she did but now everything have been turned on its head.

On top of being some lab rat, she was and Elder's great-to-the-many-somethings-granddaughter. Mer was a confiscated egg on top of that too. His parents were more than likely dead too, but dragons were never very close to their parents after they were hatched. Their lives were devoted to their Rider, and in some cases, their partners. But nothing more than that.

Ash brought her knees to her chest and watched as a flock of birds swopped through the air. On some level, she had been holding out hope that she would see her old family again. She had been almost silently counting on it. It was her hidden inner drive to be able to see them again and make them happy again knowing that she was okay. Mer would not be included in the reunion, she remembered vividly how her parents told her over and over again how evil the Riders were. Having a dragon there with their long lost daughter was asking for trouble.

Oh, who was she kidding? She purposefully left the remnants of Mer's eggshell in the middle of the flipping living room. Her parents were smart enough to put it all together.

Ash ground her teeth bitterly at the thought. She was being a naïve little kid with those kind of thoughts. She needed to grow up and smell the roses. Her mother had never been fond of her, she was always finding a reason for Ash to be in trouble and force her to do more chores around the house. The dog treated everyone like an equal, even though he still got more attention than she did. Her father had yelled at her whenever she got to close to his office. Hell, she never even went into that room the whole time she was able to walk. She more than likely learned how to walk while she was at the lab. From what A'ilarin told her, she had been taken there day in and day out for years. But still, did her family not miss her when she had left? Her siblings atleast?

No. There was an absolute zero chance of her ever seeing her family again. Back then, and definitely not now. She might have had a chance with her siblings, but again, there was no chance of that now. She really needed to stop thinking like this.

There was the _wump_ of dragon wings and a growl from behind her from Feuer. Mer must have come back from his hunt. They had not spoken much over the last few days, but she had let him see everything that had happened and he respected that she merely did not want to say anything about the whole deal. Jason seemed to be catching on atleast, having not spoken since her last retort. Maybe the whole conversation last night was enough for him. She should really take her own advice and let someone be there for her.

It was so hard to that though…

A'ilarin had taught her to be self-sufficient for the most part. She had taught Ash that it was so much easier to survive by herself than to be dragged down by another person or a group even. All she needed was Mer and she was going to be okay. A'ilarin taught her how to hunt smaller game that dragons could not, how to defend herself in a fight, even though she was never able to beat A'ilarin in a fight, and she was taught…oh, what else was she taught? Ash ran a hand through her hair and looked up to the sky. The wind was still blowing, casually reminding her that her thoughts were still racing. Atleast it was not the gale-force winds that she was creating earlier. She had nearly lost her perch on Mer when a cross wind of that strength had caught them by surprise. That had been a struggle. Mer had scolded her for allowing a cross wind to nearly take them both out of the air. Yeah, it was that strong. Blame her emotions. She had been trying to keep a tight lid on them from when they left the house and arrived at the hill. But some of it had leaked out when she saw the town they had been living on the outskirts of. The guilt she was feeling was what almost took them out of the sky.

Ash sighed and rested her head on her knees. She felt utterly responsible for her hometown's demise. She wondered if anything was left. If it was as A'ilarin said, and the Governments simply razed the whole town, it would be completely overgrown. But if it was bombed as she said it was to Jason, there was a better chance of there still being something she could mark it by, something that told her it was still there. A crater would do at that point. She felt the need to go there and at the very least pay her respects to the town. She was inadvertently involved in all of their deaths after all. It was the least she could do.

Right?

But how was she supposed to know the Governments would destroy a whole town over one little girl? It was not all her fault. The dead had to respect that.

Right?

Like should her father have been the one to face full punishment? He was the one responsible for leaving her with Mer's egg in the first place. He was the one to let her take it home. He was the one responsible for everything that had happened to her. If it were not for him, she would still be with her family. They would still be alive.

So why did the _whole town_ have to die?

Ash tightened her grip on her arms, her nails digging into skin. Her resolve hardened.

She stood up swiftly and made her way over to Mer. He was busy licking his claws clean of the blood from his kills.

 _Come on, we are heading back,_ she said as she climbed up his shoulder.

 _Okay,_ he muttered as he made his way over to where she had been sitting for the majority of the day so far.

"Leaving so soon?" Jason asked, watching them.

Neither answered as Mer took off and circled back around towards the house.

Jason watched them go, a little put out that Ash was not talking to him. But before she had left, he saw how the lightning had sparked in her eyes with determination.

She had made a decision about something. And it was something important, judging by the way she had left as quickly as the wind had died.

Jason smirked at himself. Even for supposedly unlocking her magic only a month or so ago, she really had quite the handle on it. When he had found his magic to be fire, Jason had started to set everything on fire, unintentionally for the most part. Still was after all these year of working with it. Although, much less frequently than in the beginning.

Feuer walked up to him and nudged him in the shoulder. _Are we going to go after them?_

Jason sighed and stood up. _Might as well._

* * *

 **There we go.  
**

 **Again, it's a little short but I think it did the job, yeah? Let me know what you think in a review.**

 **And don't worry about the next chapter, I have plan for that. Cuz this was supposed to have a lot more to it, but I decided, with a little nudge in the right direction from a review, that it might suit the pacing a little bit better to split this chap into two different one.**

 **Again, leave a review telling me what you think!**

* * *

 **Guest** **: I agree and thanks for the advice! I'm hoping that this chapter and the next few will do what you suggested. Introspective thought can be hard to write, plus almost anything be cliche if you think about. (Not trying to write you off but I do see where you are coming from with my character development, cuz let's face it, up until now its be basically nonexistent.. :/) And I swear I _am_ trying to stretch this part beyond a chapter or two. And if you think about it, a lot of stuff happens in all of my chapters because of their length, so I can see where you feel that I am rushing through things, and reading back on it, I feel it too. Plus, I'm going through a small learning curve with chapter planning, like story boarding for a couple of chapters before I write the next one. Usually, i just take an idea and run with it for a chapter. so yeah...**

* * *

 **God, that response ended up being longer than my whole author's note. Sorry about that.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	20. Chapter 20

**Alright y'all. The muse struck me at like 2.30 this morning and I have been writing this chapter since. I am beyond tired. Why did I do this to myself? Oh yeah, BECAUSE I COULDN'T FRICKIN SLEEP TILL I ATLEAST HAD THIS CHAPTER OUT. Omg. Anyways, I apologize if there are any mistakes. I only scanned this over once.**

 **But hey! IT'S CH 20!**

* * *

Chapter 20

Jason arrived back at the house just as Ash was storming back out. He was not kidding either. Ash looked down right terrifying as she stomped around the yard in frustration. Dark clouds started to gather in the distance, lightning sparking throughout them. She needed to calm down before another one of her storms rolled through the valley. Frankly, the valley could not handle another one so soon.

Jason ran up to her and removed her hands from her hair.

"Hey! You need to calm down!" he reprimanded.

She yanked her hands out of his grip and glared at him, eyes bright with unshed tears. If she had been able to smite him with lightning, she would have. "So what? Why do you care?"

He flinched at her tone, goosebumps rising on his arms as he felt the static electricity gather in the air. May she could smite him with lightning. Either way, he was not going to let her do this again. Last night had been enough.

He pointed towards the fast approaching bank of clouds. "That storm will flood the valley, Ash! You can't take your anger out on the people who live here whenever you decide to lose it!"

That seemed to deflate her. Her gaze dropped and slowly the storm was backed down to just a rain shower. Jason let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding. Ash's shoulders were slumped and she was hugging herself, looking like she was barely holding together. Why did she look so close to breaking?

"Hey, is everything okay?" Jason asked, "I understand everything that happened last night sorta threw you for a loop…"

"I'm fine." She seemed to gather herself, her shoulders straightened, but she was still hugging herself.

"Uh-huh. Ash, you can talk to me about wha-"

"I said I was fine. I don't need to talk about anything. I don't _want_ to. Not with you." She turned to storm away, but Jason caught her arm.

"Let go-!" She tried to shake him off.

"No." His grip tightened on her arm. "I know how you feel. Doing this–what you're doing now–isn't going to help you."

Ash ground her teeth and growled at him, sounding like a small dragon. Jason immediately let go and stepped back. The look in her eyes was close to unbridled rage. She looked like she was ready to attack him.

"You do _not_ know what I am going through. No one does. I am the sole successful experiment that escaped from the Government twelve years ago. They destroyed an innocent town because I escaped. I'm a runaway – I ran away from my own home because of a drag–"

A jet of flame raced towards them. Jason acted on instinct and called on his magic. Throwing his hands out, he halted the trajectory of the flames. He looked over at Ash to make sure she was fine just as he heard an angry roar from her dragon. Ash was on the ground, holding her head, eyes wide with fear.

Jason swiped his hands through the air, dissipating the fire that was hovering before them, and letting go of his magic. He knelt down next to Ash, putting a hand on her shoulder. This whole situation was getting out of control.

She was muttering "I'm sorry" over and over again. This must have been the first time Mer had even been truly angry at the words she had been saying. Jason rubbed her back as she slowly came back to herself. Mer had come over to see if was alright.

The dragon looked down at his Rider, a sad look in his eyes. He lowered his head and nudged her with his nose, gaining her attention.

Ash looked up at him, tears were making their way down her face. She muttered another apology, wrapped her arms around his muzzle and hugged him as hard as she could. She was not truly angry for running away with a dragon, simply angry at the situation that had befallen her as a result of it many years later. Her apologies were the only thing that could be heard when the skies opened up and rain started to pour down.

Jason shook her shoulder. "Come on, we should go inside." He was not going to let her get a cold from sitting out in the rain hugging her dragon.

Ash nodded, letting go of Mer and stood up with Jason. She surprised him by taking his hand as her led the way back to the house.

A'ilarin was standing in the kitchen, coming down from her study to find out what was going on when she had heard one of the dragons roar. As soon as they were inside, Ash dropped Jason's hand and glared at A'ilarin.

"Thanks," she muttered to him and she disappeared up to her room.

Jason cast a glance at her mentor, raising an eyebrow in question.

A'ilarin scowled back at him. "She had a stupid idea and I told her no," she explained.

Jason raised his other eyebrow to match its twin. All of that over being told no? That seemed out of character for Ash, even as she was now. But obviously she had proven him wrong again. This was still not something he could shrug off though.

"Seriously?" he asked.

A'ilarin simply nodded and left the kitchen.

Okay, so he was going to be left alone. Again. It sucked being left alone when he was surrounded by people. Jason sulked into a room her had not explored yet. His time at this house had been limited to the dining room, the kitchen, his room, and the bathroom. He had only been in A'ilarin's study twice and Ash's room only once. The room he was in now looked like a small library.

He tugged out a random book and opened it to a previously book marked page. Everything was gibberish to him. He snapped the book shut and put it back on the shelf. He slouched off to a chair that sat near a window and plunked himself down. Leave it to him to find a room filled with things that he could not read.

For the next few hours, he occupied himself with watching the rain run down the window and rolling a small flame around his fingers. Of course he kept it away from anything flammable. He did not want to seek out A'ilarin's wrath for burning a priceless book. He had had plans to practice more with his magic, but there was no way he was getting away with it in the house. Again it came back to A'ilarin's wrath. So he settled for the smallest flame he could muster and toyed with it. The constant pull he felt was exhausting. Every Rider's magic called to them differently, and his called for a raging fire each time he so much as touched his pool of magic. It was disconcerting at first that his inner-self, so to speak, was constantly calling for arson, but Garrett had helped him quell that beast by telling him to manifest a small flame and keep it out for however long he needed to get rid of the feeling. In essence, it tricked the beast into thinking a prolonged fire had been created.

Jason settled the flame into his palm before clenching it into a fist, snuffing out the magic. For as much as Garrett meant to him, he tried very hard to avoid any thoughts associated with him. Each thought about Garrett and Nova always brought back memories from the night they died. He only just started to get over it, and they had left him three years ago. And this was why what Ash was doing was so infuriating to him. She was doing the same thing he had. She was shoving away everyone. She was being an idiot. It was why he kept bothering her about it. The more she talked about it, the more she would be able to return to her normal self. It was what she made him do. She forced him to talk about that night to the best of his ability, and he felt like part of the guilt he had been harboring was gone. Yeah, he still felt guilty about the whole thing, but he was slowly beginning to realize that it was not all his fault. He could not be the sole person responsible for that night. And neither could she, he would not let her.

Jason watched how Mercury stood out in the middle of the paddock, watching the house. The dragon looked depressed, his wings drooping so much that they were touching the ground, his head was tilted in such a way that he looked like a dog that just got kicked out of the house for eating off the counter. The boy got up from his seat and made his way outside. The rain had nearly stopped, so he did not have to worry about getting completely drenched to talk to the dragon.

"Yo, Mercury," he waved in greeting as he stopped in front of the silver dragon.

 _Jason,_ the dragon cast a glance down at him before looking back towards the house.

"Jeez, why is everyone being so moody?" Jason crossed his arms and pouted.

 _I'm not being moody,_ Mercury huffed and shifted his claws.

"Then what's with the deal with everyone today? Ash is on the verge of a complete breakdown, A'ilarin doesn't say much half the time anyways, and Nyetia hasn't been seen in days. So what the hell has everyone snapping at each other?" Jason glared at Ash's dragon.

Mercury sighed, a small jet of flame escaping from his mouth.

 _A'ilarin is worried about Ash…_

"Rightly so. She's got me worried too."

Mer rolled his eyes. _That goes without saying. A'ilarin just wants us to keep an eye on her._

Jason's eyes widened in surprise. "Why? She isn't thinking Ash will…?"

Mer shook his head, scattering the water that had collected on his scales. _No, no. nothing of that nature. Ash just wants to do what's right but A'ilarin isn't letting her._

Jason stepped under the dragon to avoid most of the water. "But what does Ash want to do?"

 _It is not my place to say. But if she does something irrational or tries anything by herself, I'll let you know._ With that, Mercury walked back towards the woods.

Jason groaned in annoyance but let Mercury leave, despite how much he wanted to interrogate the silver dragon. He was very clear that he was not going to say anything about Ash's plans until she put herself in danger. If that even.

Jason trudged back to the house, scavenged for food from the kitchen before going to bed.

* * *

The pattern of him waking up, finding ash's room still locked, A'ilarin not speaking without sounding furious, and Mercury giving vague hints about whatever Ash was planning persisted for three days. Jason had found some new level of boredom. He practiced with his magic, making more progress in his control than he thought he would. The library became his new hang out when he was not outside or in his room. He actually managed to find a book there that he could actually read. The book itself was an old adventure novel, the typical runaway princess rescued by a sketchy traveler who turned out to be some banished knight for one misdeed. His kind of story. He always sympathized with the traveler because that was him and Garrett for the longest time. Needless to say, this kind of fairy tale was his vice.

It was late afternoon on the third day, and he had been reading for the past couple hours. He was in the middle of reading a duel between the traveler and some would-be prince. It was classic swordplay, and it was obvious the traveler was toying with the prince, a young boy – barely a man– challenged the traveler for the princess' hand. All the prince wanted was her title and direct access to a throne, being the fifth so–

The book was plucked out of his hands and snapped shut. Jason blinked a couple of times before he slowly lifted his fiery gaze to whomever had the audacity to…

Why was Ash standing in front of looking like she was determined to get whatever she wants? It looked like she did not care about whatever the costs would be.

"Uh…I was reading that," he said meekly. Ash looked absolutely terrifying at the moment, glaring at everything. Including him.

"I see that. Didn't peg you for the runaway princess type, though." She examined the book briefly before setting it on a side tale next to her.

"Uh-um…ye-yeah. What about i-it?" he stuttered out. He shrank back into his seat when her sparking gaze turned back to him. Why could she not just stare out the window?

"Nothing, just making an observation." She thankfully turned away and started to rummage through a basket of scrolls. Yeah, A'ilarin was old enough to have scrolls scattered throughout the library and her study.

"Um Ash? Is everything alright? You seem–?

"Different? Yeah, I know. You would be a different person too if Garrett hadn't been your only family and not be dead."

Jason stiffened and glared at her back. No matter what she was dealing with, it still gave her no right to say such things. Something was off. He was sure of it. Ash would never say something like that so callously. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"That's none of your business," he growled. He'd be damned if he allowed her to talk smack about his life and Garrett.

Ash straightened up and opened a scroll. Scanning it quickly, she rolled it back up and turned back towards him.

"You certainly made it your business when you dragged the same information out me the other night."

That was what has been othering her this whole time? She was angry with him?

"You were going to flood the whol–!"

"It doesn't matter, and frankly, I don't care anymore." Was what he really did the other night the reason why she was being so cold now?

Jason fumed. "Then why di–?"

"I said I don't care, so we are done talking about it."

Damn she was being prickly today…

"In any case, pack a bag. With extra pants. We are leaving tonight."

Jason sat up quickly. Leaving? Where the hell to? "Why?"

She gave him a sardonic look. "I figured that I would try to extend the invitation." She gestured between them with the scroll. "Despite how I am still angry with you, we are still friends. And we are only leaving for a few days. I wasn't going to leave for good." She shrugged her shoulder. The way she had said made it sound like the 'yet' was meant to be added onto the end of that last part.

But atleast she admitted to being angry with him. This whole time, Jason had not been sure if she truly was or simply dealing with everything in her own way. Now that he knew, he guessed trying to make it up to her would be a good idea. She seemed like she was willing to hold onto this grudge for as long as it takes.

"But…?" Jason also got the feeling that there was a catch to all this.

"But you don't have to come. I'm going regardless. I'll be in the air by midnight tonight. You're welcome to fly along."

With that she turned and left the room, taking the scroll with her.

Jason sat back, shocked. Besides her whole childhood changing in the course of one night, something else had to be giving her reason to be like this. Ash never gave off a cold feeling, even with his fire magic, he shivered from the way she was acting. He did not remember her ever dealing with her problems like this.

What the hell has he gotten himself into?

* * *

 **Ok. There it is in all of its glory. I sorta feel like this was just late night ramblings. I'm prepared for the repercussions though, if there are any. Let me know in a review.**

* * *

 **Guest** **: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, really appreciate it. :)**

* * *

 **Alrighty folks, time for a nap. See ya next time!**

 **Mogey**


	21. Chapter 21

**Another late night chapter by me. My sleep schedule is so messed up. I might as well be nocturnal at this point.**

* * *

Chapter 21

Jason almost had no choice but to go with Ash on this little trip she was planning. If he did not, the guilt if anything were to happen to her while he was not there would more than likely kill him.

So, he found himself packing a backpack full of clothes late at night. And extra pairs of pants. They really needed to get him a saddle for Feuer. Pants were hard to come by when he did not have any money to replace them. After stuffing his final pair of pants in his backpack, Jason left his room headed outside.

He was quiet. A'ilarin had gone to bed an hour or two before he had started to pack. And if she knew that they were both disappearing for a couple of days, he was certain that she would beat both him and Ash to the point where flying around would be the last thing on their minds for days. So he moved through the house as quietly as he could and finally getting to the back door, closing it silently behind him.

When he arrived, both of their dragons were there and Ash looked mildly surprised that he actually decided to show up. But she did not say anything to him about it, keeping to her new cool persona she had donned over the last few days. She was currently packing her saddle and was already dressed in her riding pants. Yeah, the fancy ones with the extra leather padding in the places where it counted. Jason sighed. He needed a pair of those, too.

"Do you know how to shoot a gun?" Ash asked casually.

Jason cast her a glance as he adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. "Do I need to?" It seemed like a random question to him.

Ash did not answer right away. He heard the clicking of a handgun and turned to watch her inspect a gun that she apparently had hid on her person.

"Where we are going, I don't know how much control the Governments have in the area. We could be flying into an ambush or we could simply find a ghost town. It would be better to arrive armed and ready for anything. So do you know how to use a gun?" she explained.

Jason took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No, I don't. All I know is a fair amount of martial arts and my magic. Using both at the same time would more than likely be enough for anyone."

Ash nodded and stuck the pistol back wherever she was able to hide it. "Any knowledge of knives?"

"Nope. Literally all hand to hand stuff with me."

Nodding, Ash let it go. She turned and walked into the barn, disappearing for a few moments. Upon her return, she came back with extra clips of ammunition and a belt of knives. She climbed on to Mercury's back and put away everything she had gathered.

There was one glaring factor that was bothering Jason.

"So don't we need food or something?"

Ash looked over at him and grinned for what felt like the first time in the past few days.

"The knives are for more than just throwing at enemies," she said. And that was the end of that.

She checked a few other minor things about her saddle, tugging on it here and there to make sure it was seated and tightened properly. She turned to Jason and nodded before Mercury leaped up into the air.

Jason scrambled onto Feuer's back, grumbling about being left behind again. Soon enough Feuer was high in the air following the glinting silver a dozen yards in front of them into the night.

* * *

They had been flying for a few hours now. Feuer was trailing a little bit closer to Mercury than when they had first started. Jason still had no idea where they were going, but from the way Ash had been acting before they had left, he was guessing it was an important place to her.

Jason was riding sideways on Feuer, trying to preserve his pants. He was leaning against his dragon's neck, almost lounging while they flew through the air. His relaxed position was nothing compared to what Ash was doing. She looked to be nearly asleep in the saddle, completely facing backwards with her feet propped up on the saddle bag that was situated behind her and her back against Mercury's neck.

The scroll that she had come down for in the library was safely put away in the saddle bag her feet were on. She had only opened it up once or twice to check their direction before telling Mercury to adjust his course.

They were flying south towards the tail end of a mountain range that ran its way northeast. Technically, these were just the foot hills, but they were still having to weave slightly in order to avoid running into anything. So basically, they were mountains.

Jason still had no idea where they were going or where they were currently. He came from the western part of the continent and this was as far east as he had ever been with or without Garrett, and certainly not this far south. He was at the end of his rope trying to figure out where they were going.

He reached out to Ash to finally ask her.

 _So, where the hell are you leading me to?_ Yeah, he finally broke down. Let curiosity kill that cat named Jason.

He watched as Ash looked back at him and battle with herself internally about if she really wanted to tell him or not. Eventually he saw her shoulders drop a fraction of the tension that she had been holding onto.

 _We are going to my old home,_ she said. She turned her head to watch as Mercury soared by another mountain top. _There is something that I need to do there._

 _Was this the thing that you asked A'ilarin about doing and she told you no?_

Ash immediately tensed back up again. He could feel the electricity in the air. Gods, please do not hit him with lightning this high in the air. Feuer would not be able to handle that either.

 _If you really must know, yes it was. Are you going to try to stop me now?_ she challenged.

Jason shook his head, knowing that she was looking for what his reaction would be. _I have no idea where I am on this godforsaken continent and you have the only map between all of us._

He could hear the snort she made at his response. _You make it sound like I'm holding you hostage for this trip._

 _Eh, technically. Anything stupid you do, I'll get blamed for letting you do it, and so I might as well do the stupid thing with you._ Inwardly, he was ecstatic that Ash sounded a little more like herself with that last comment. Unfortunately, her tone was still pretty cold, but the words were what told him she was slowly coming back.

 _This isn't a stupid idea. I am going to do the right thing, regardless of A'ilarin's worries,_ she huffed.

Jason sighed himself, and looked forward as Feuer turned to avoid another mountain, watching as the dragon made it look like he was lazily floating through the air. _She cares for you, and has raised you for twelve years. Don't start the teenage rebellion now._

Ash just shook her head and did not answer.

Another hour and they were finally through the mountains. At some point Jason was sure that he had fallen asleep. He trusted Feuer to not drop him. When they were on the run, they had flown through the dark almost every night, only catching rest during the day. Jason would sleep on the dragon's back during those long flights, and watch over him in return while on the ground.

Ash apparently thought he was asleep because she had reached out to him mentally to wake him up once they came across a valley. By now, the sun had started to rise and they could begin to see what was in store for them once they were on the ground.

It was a wasteland.

Both of the teens stared down at the ground with grim expressions. Jason noticed that Ash readied her pistol, loading a bullet into the chamber. He had only seen her hold one, but she held it with such confidence that he need not worry about her being actually able to use the weapon. Jason checked the amount of magic he had in reserves. If he was conservative, he would have enough to last for two days of continual use.

They slowly circled around the valley, watching to see if there was anyone actually still living in the town. When no one came out to the sound of dragon wings in the air, they felt safe enough to land just outside the town. Landing in the center of town was too much risk, even if the town was deserted.

At this point, Ash had all but turned into a glacier. She jumped off of Mercury before he had even situated himself on the ground and was off to the town. Jason was not too far behind, dropping his backpack on the ground as he chased after her.

As he got closer and closer to the town, Jason realized what they saw in the air was nothing compared to what was actually on the ground.

The town might as well have been made out of skeletons and ash. The buildings were gray, the soot bleached from the sunlight. Debris was everywhere, he had to keep a constant eye on the ground or else he would trip. Windows were blackened from the heat that had decimated this town. The wind picked up and stirred the ash and dirt along the streets. Bones littered the sidewalks and streets, looking as if they were immolated where they had been standing. He tried to ignore some of the bones that cracked under his feet as they ran, he could see Ash was struggling with the same problem in front of him. Everything had been picked clean over the years.

It was completely silent besides their panting as they ran through the town. They reached the center of town when Ash suddenly stopped. Jason stopped next to her, raising his hands to rest behind his head as he caught his breath.

Ash was beside herself. How could a group of people who were dedicated to protecting its citizens do this? What did these people do to deserve being burned alive?

She started to hyperventilate, too many how's and why's rushing through her head. The wind swirled around them, creating dust devils in its wake. Jason laid a hand on her shoulder and turned her to him. His face showed nothing but the grief she must have been showing herself, his eyebrows crinkled in a worried fashion and his mouth was turned down slightly at the corners. He understood why she wanted to come here. And that was enough for her to gather herself.

She nodded her thanks and turned back to the town. She vaguely remembered half of the buildings that were still standing. They were in the city center right now, a place she hardly every came to when she had lived here. Turning in a full circle as she gained her bearings and tried to remember which direction her house was. Jason remained quiet, knowing that today was going to be very hard for her.

Despite her anger towards him, she appreciated it. Maybe after today, she would finally forgive him.

A gut feeling told her to head towards the outskirts of town in the west. Ash began to walk in that direction, ignoring the buildings and bones as they passed. There would be time for recognizing the buildings and saying her apologies for the people of the town later. For now there was something she had to make sure of.

As if in a trance, Ash meandered through the town's streets, Jason following wearily behind. He was keeping an eye out for anything that seemed out of the ordinary for a ghost town. Things were too quiet.

Eventually they found the suburbs of the town, and still Ash moved farther and farther outside of town. Coming to an intersection she did not quite remember, Ash paused and looked around. For now she had been able to lock out all of the thoughts running circles in her head, now was not the time to let things get the better of her. Recognizing something farther down the street to her left, she moved in that direction until she came upon a driveway that still had a car parked outside of it.

That…that was her father's car. This was her house. Breaking into a sprint, Ash ran into the house. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her toes. She moved through her childhood home with a certainty she did not think she would have for being away for so long. Finding a closed door, she barged in and came upon a seen she hoped she would never find. In the back of her mind, it bothered her how intact the doors were in her house. Was every house like this?

Before her lay a pile of fire scorched bones belonging to three bodies, black and cracked as the left over logs from a campfire. Two smaller sets were gathered around a larger one.

They were siblings and mother, judging by the shape of the hips of the larger grouping of bones. They had been hugging each other for comfort as they faced the fires the Governments had punished them with.

Ash felt the bile and anger rise in her throat. Swallowing, she knelt down and ran a hand across the smallest skull. It had belonged to her sister. She had been barely two years old when Ash had left. She had just been learning to crawl. The tears gathered in Ash's eyes, blurring her vision as she continued to stroke the skull as if she were lulling a baby to sleep in its crib.

Jason walked in after a moment, Ash had lost him briefly when she had run into the house.

"Ash…?" he said hesitantly, not wanting to startle her and cause her to move anything out of place.

"This was them. This was my family…" she said in a stronger voice than she thought she should have been able to manage. Since when did she sound so cold? Why did she sound like this?

"A-are you sure?" Jason watched her carefully, looking for any sign of another panic attack when she had first found out about the deaths of her family.

Ash merely nodded. "This right here was my sister." She was still stroking the same skull. "She had just turned two the week before I ran away. Her name was Ivy. She was the sweetest little thing, I remember her having the brightest smile in the family."

She turned and lifted her other hand to gingerly touch the next largest skull. Her brother.

"Here's my brother. He was called Jerimiah, and my parents always called him Jerry. He hated it. But somehow I was able to get away with calling him Jer." Ash laughed grimly. "Maybe that's I decided I would nickname Mercury 'Mer', one more connection from home that I could keep." He had only been three, almost four when she ranaway.

She wiped her hands on her jeans before she rubbed them both down her face, unintentionally streaking soot down her cheeks. Ash stood up and looked down upon her three long gone family members. Jason had stood in the doorway of the room, silently listening to her as she talked about each of her siblings. It was strange how calm she was being through all of this.

"In the middle is my mom," she continued. "I was never really that close to her. She always shooed me away from my siblings. I never really understood why until just after A'ilarin had taken me in. Somehow my mom had picked up on the fact that I was different, that I had the potential to be a Rider. That I could be someone who was a part of a group that was still shunned by society. How could she have known that when I was barely five?" Ash shook her head, not wanting to talk any more about her mother.

Something in farther into the room caught her. Making her gently over to it, Ash finally let the tears she had been holding fall. It was a pile of dog bones. From the way they were arranged, it looked like her dog had been cowering in the corner before he had met his end.

"Poor Beaux…I'm so sorry…" She wondered why the finding of her dog was the one thing to make her crumble. The walls she had built to keep everything in were slowly falling down.

Taking a shaky breath, Ash turned back to Jason. His own eyes were bright as he was fighting to hold back his own tears. Tears that were for her. Tears that were sharing in her own grief.

Ash cast her gaze to the ground, taking a moment to gather herself. This was not the place for all the crying she wanted to do she could do that when they made their way to a cave that was not too far from here she had found on the map.

Jason spoke first. "Come on, let's look around for your dad. Believe it or not, you'll feel a little bit better after seeing him." His voice was quiet and laden with sadness. Ash knew why. He had never found Garrett's body, only Nova's skull.

Nodding, she moved past him and down the hallway. Whenever her father had been home, he was always in his study. When she came to the one room in the house she had never stepped foot in, she stopped at the closed door. How was she supposed to just walk in there? The whole time she had lived here, she never once saw the inside of this room. She felt Jason lay a hand on her shoulder, silently encouraging her.

Taking a deep breath, she reached out and opened the door. It fell over off of its hinges instead of swinging. It did not even make a crash, instead just a loud _whoompf_ as it fell on the blanket of ashes on the floor. Inside was piles of ashes, mostly from the books and papers he had used for his research. Stepping onto the door as she made her way inside, Ash looked around. Nothing stood out to her. No body, no scattering of bones.

If he was not in this room, then he was not home.

Ash's eyes widened with realization, her heart rate increasing once more. If her father had not been home when the Governments had destroyed this town, which meant he had been at the lab that day. He had not been home! Did that mean he was still alive?

Ash spun around and stared at Jason with wide eyes. He had noticed that lack of findings in this room as well and his eyes were narrowed with suspicion.

"Something's not right," he said. "I think we need to leave."

Ash nodded in agreement. "Let's go back to where we landed then."

" _Now where is all the fun in that?"_

* * *

 **Alrighty. So cliffhangers are a thing.**

 **I know you all must be super bored with a clear antagonist for this story besides some ambiguous entity that is continuously mentioned throughout this thing. That is changing next chapter! Woohoo!**

 **Let me know what you think in review!**

* * *

 **Wolf-M** **: I'm sorry, but you are in for a long-winded response. You were the only person to review last chapter, so I think you deserve a full response.**

 **If I am being completely honest, I forgot about the Silver Hand and I never personally liked half of the terminology from the actual books. I always found myself looking up the meanings in the back of each book just so I could understand what was being or said or just the meaning of the word. No offense against Paolini, his books are beautifully written, but that just isn't my style and it made it hard for me to really enjoy the reading. But I do appreciate the thought. :)**

 **Anyways, about Riders looking more and more elf-like? I feel ashamed that I forgot about that as well.. I haven't read these books in YEARS and I simply don't have the time to devote to reading them again anymore. So I'm sorry. If you were to look on my profile, you can basically see my reasoning for why none of the other races have been mentioned. I want to do my characters justice and writing them as a different species would be out of my league right now. Either way, I left a lot of wiggle room unintentionally for the descriptions of my characters, so it may or may not come into play later on, I'm not sure yet. Right now, I sorta have them becoming more dragon-like rather than elf-like. (i.e. slightly pointed canines, better senses, hunter instincts, that sorta thing) I like the idea, so I'm pretty sure I'll find a way to fit it in. Thanks for the reminder about it. :)**

 **But about the whole races deal, I do not want to bastardize Paolini's work by doing so. It can be argued that I am already doing that by not including a lot of other elements into this story, but I really enjoy my creative freedom. I literally have this story labeled as it is because that was where I drew my inspiration, and I wanted to give credit to the Inheritance Cycle for that reason. I'm sorry if that bothers anyone or if that is a really childish way to think about it, but it is what I believe.**

 **So drawing this huge response to a close.. I'm really glad that this has given you ideas about your own potential story! I'd be happy to help with anything.**

 **P.S. I'm pretty much gushed at my phone when I read your review about being addicted to this story in my email. Again, my thanks!**

 **P.S.S. I hope you understand the decisions I made before posting this story. In all honesty, I wanted to, but I don't believe in my abilities enough to bother trying. Maybe another story in the future?**

* * *

 **Welp, that review was like 400+ words. I really hope that explains my position about this story.**

 **Please leave a review, pm me, or idk.. message me on tumblr? (see in profile)**

 **Anyways, until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	22. Chapter 22

**I know the past few chapters have been kinda short, but all for good reason. Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 22

This was borderline ridiculous.

Why would they leave like this? And without a note even?

A'ilarin was beyond pissed.

Two teenagers and two dragons were missing somewhere on this godforsaken continent. No note to tell her where they were going. Weapons were missing from the barn, mostly knives and ammunition. A scroll was missing from the library. And for whatever reason so was an adventure novel. What the hell were they thinking?

Throwing a chair at the wall in the dining room in frustration, A'ilarin stormed outside and called on her bond, her heart burning. Nyetia had been out on a hunting trip for three days. It was time for her to come home. She felt her dragon's acknowledgment, she would be back with two hours.

How could Ashley and Jason have done this? A'ilarin knew full well that Ash wanted to travel to her hometown and see what was left of it. For closure. But what the girl did not realize was that the town was deep into controlled Government territory, the scroll she had taken was years out of date, almost by fifty. Hell, the lab where she had been experimented on was just a mountain over. What the hell was the girl thinking?

Not clearly that was for sure.

A'ilarin made her way into the barn and started to arm up as well. Grabbing knives, a pistol, and two swords. There was no way she was not going to let them get away with this. Those two idiots were going to be grounded. She holstered the pistol onto her hip, the knives were hidden throughout her person and the two swords were crossed on her back.

The Rider hauled her saddle over her shoulder and made her way outside into the paddock. Dropping it and her weapons she went back into the barn. When she had still been at the academy, they had been given a set of armor for their dragons. It was the bare minimum, not a complete set. Nyetia had a chest plate, a series of neck guards, bracers for each leg, and tail spikes. A full set would come with plating along the back of a dragon. Another thing those two kids needed for their dragons...

Regardless of what they needed, they were getting closer to the Governments than A'ilarin felt comfortable with and she was not going to let anything go to chance.

Once everything was gathered and laid out accordingly, A'ilarin waited for her dragon to return.

She did not have to wait long. Within moments of finishing gathering everything, Nyetia was landing in the middle of the paddock. Immediately, A'ilarin began to armor her dragon. She started with the chest plate and moving onto the neck guards next, grumbling the whole time about how stupid teenagers were. Once she saw those two again, they were going to wish they had never left the ground last night.

Finishing the armoring process, A'ilarin saddled up Nyetia and they were in the air. The town Ashley and Jason had gone to was a flight a few hours south.

Gods be damned, why did she have to find a stubborn child in the woods twelve years ago?

Ashley may not see herself as a handful, but that was putting it lightly. A'ilarin had fought with her countless times to get her to go through her lessons as a child without wandering off. Meditation had been the worse to start with, but it was necessary. That had been the girl's only saving grace from her magic consuming her. But the rest of the subjects A'ilarin had taught her? Struggle after struggle. Ash puts on a good show of being studious, but there was a good chance that next to her bare minimum notes, there were doodle and sketches for new saddle designs and weapons littering her notebook pages.

Forget teaching her the discreet methods of mathematics, she would already be off in the yard trying to learn how to throw a knife or shoot a gun.

A'ilarin growled in frustration and pounded her fist on the saddle horn. How had she managed to raise that girl beyond childhood was a mystery, but she was not about to let her kill herself for the sake of finding her family's bones.

Nyetia was flying as fast a she could, weaving in between the foothills of the mountains to the east with haste. A'ilarin had no care if they were spotted at this point. She had to find those two before anything happened to them. And knowing Ashley's luck, something was bound to happen.

She urged Nyetia to go faster, giving her gruff encouragement to keep going whenever he speed flagged. The armor definitely slowed her down, but it was worth the risk when she factored who they were going up against.

But they seemed to not be able to go fast enough.

A'ilarin's anger faded to uncultured worry at this point. What if they did not arrive in time? What then? Ashley and Jason were the future to bringing back the Rider Corps, they could not just disappear like this. They could not be captured. She thought she had atleast conveyed that idea to Ashley during her lessons when she was younger. Garrett had said in his memoir that Jason understood the responsibility he was under as a Rider. Did that boy need a reminder as well?

 _A'ilarin you need to think about this rationally. Your emotions are clouding your judgement._ Nyetia said. There was worry in her voice as well, but she did not sound as she was going to lose it if they were too late.

 _At this point, there is nothing more for me to do,_ A'ilarin said after taking a deep breath to slow down her thoughts. _Those two should have known better than to fly off like this in the middle of the night. I told Ashley no for a reason. Now we have to find them before they are taken._

In this situation the Governments posed a far greater threat than they had back at her home. They were bound to pick up Ashley's and Jason's magical signatures before long. Those two had no control over that. Back in their town, A'ilarin had been able to set up aura cancelling devices, that masked how strong auras were, around the valley. Outside of that valley, their auras were so large that there was no way they could possibly mask them. They were beacons of fire in the middle of the night. They were going to be found.

* * *

Nyetia broke free of the foothills and started to circle the closest valley. Smoke was rising from a good portion of the town below them. Jason had been putting up a fight. Buildings were knocked over and some streets had even been cleared of any debris. Ashley had been using her magic as well. Those two apparently had a knack for destruction.

Roars from Feuer and Mercury were echoing around. They were angry. Silver glinted on the side of town that was billowing smoke. Jets of flame were sporadically aimed at what looked like nothing. Fighting was still happening. Shots were being fired and yells could be heard in between the dragon roars.

Nyetia circled lower, staying clear of the smoke. It had begun to start sparking with static electricity dangerously. Ashley was charging the natural static in the smoke to the max. The airs on A'ilarin's arms began to rise from just being within a few yards of the cloud itself.

She landed in the center of town, and A'ilarin was off, sprinting towards the worst of the fire on the ground. Nyetia could handle herself if anything came after her. The others however would be hard pressed to break away and create room to fight.

More gunshots could be heard and there was another roar from one of the dragons. It was strangled and it cut off. A'ilarin pushed herself fast but as she got closer and closer she could hear the sounds of massive engines.

No.

No no no.

 _No!_

A'ilarin had to force herself to stop as the plane that the engines belonged to revved and the exhaust caused to debris to fly through the air and block A'ilarins view. Raising her arms to block the worst of it, A'ilarin's worst fear came to life.

Standing in disbelief, A'ilarin stared in shock as the massive plane, large enough to house two fully grown dragons, appeared out of the smoke cloud. Its lower hatch was slowly closing and she could just barely make out the glint of black and orange scales of Feuer.

As sense of dread spread over her, leaving her cold. A'ilarin dropped to her knees and watched as the plane turned on a point and was soon racing off farther to the east. Distantly she heard Nyetia roar in desperation. The dragon had taken to the air to try to stop it, or to chase it down, but it proved to be too fast for a dragon. When did the Government gain such technology? There had been no news about this.

A'ilarin leaned forward onto her hands, pounding them into the ground. She had failed. She failed to keep two Riders from falling into the clutches of the Governments.

Roaring herself at the desperation she felt welling up inside of her, she pounded a fist one more time in the ground. The pavement cracked with the strength of her strike.

A'ilarin forced herself to her feet, her gaze hard and her heart sealed. Raising her eyes to the horizon the plane had disappeared over, she called Nyetia down to her. For now, she would retreat. They did not have the provisions to follow after them. Climbing onto Nyetia's back and a final look in the direction of where the four were taken, A'ilarin turned her back and headed home to prepare for a rescue mission. There was no way she would let them go without fighting for them.

She vowed she would find Ashley, Jason, Mercury, and Feuer. She would find them or she would die trying.

* * *

 **So, I never really realized how hard it is to write from A'ilarin's perspective. I hope I did alright. Sorry its short.. :/ and I'm not really sorry for keeping you all in suspense. Just means you're going to have to leave your reaction in a review. ;)**

 **Anyways, THREE reviews happened last chapter. Yay! Again, two are really long responses, but the reviews themselves were of good content. Don't hate me for that.**

* * *

 **Nechochwen :** **Ok, first off, THANK You for reviewing. I'm hoping to make a few more things clear with answering all of your questions, and I really enjoyed our discussion! :)**

 ****Most of this review has been moved over to the dedicated space on my profile for this story.****

 **As to where on the continent.. They are pretty far south, like near the Beor Mountains. Surda no longer exists. And since this is set in so far into the future compared to the canon world, and due to creative freedom, I have extended a small part of that mountain chain to suit my needs. Right now, I have "foothills" leading up to the main part of the chain that run along the old border of Surda. In reference, Jason is from up north near the Spine.**

 **In regards to the Shining Palm, it has been modified for my story. When first writing this I wasn't quite sure if would be able to use that, so right now it is just a mark that appears of the Rider's heart. Yes, I know I haven't done anything with it yet, but I have plans for the Governments to do something with it. So it does come back. And yes I am taking a ton of liberty with the way Eragon had modified the contract with the dragons, so there's that too.**

 **Regarding the exchanging features between Rider and dragon.. Again it kinda came down to what I could get away with for writing this story. I started writing this when I was 15 and a freshman in highschool, so I didn't know much about copyrights then and I was just a kid writing for fun. Still am, I'm just much older…**

 **Yes, the Ancient Language has been lost over the many centuries of there being a lack of teachers and actual texts who actually knew it. I know Ash has said that A'ilarin has taught her many different languages, some of them dead, but they are not the Ancient Language. This is due to me falling into the trope that mankind is ruthless and doesn't like to accept things that are different. So to war they went, driving the other races away or killing them out entirely. (**Spoilers, I was thinking about using this as an idea for a prologue to tell readers how we got to Ash's world in the current story, possibly as a really long oneshot, just to explain thing in more detail**)**

 **The magic in this world is tricky. Again it is very primal. I touched on it a little bit when Jason is talking about how magic calls to each user differently. He refers to his as a beast, not because of his inhibitions of using large amounts of magic, but because it is. Because of the loss of the Ancient Language, it is no longer controlled through the use of words. People who have magic and are able to use it are much more involved with how they use it. Jason has stated that he uses it to augment his fighting, and that Garrett did the same thing with his lightning magic. Since Ash is just beginning to figure hers out, she has no set way of using it quite yet. Everything that they want to do with their magic when in complete control is due to mental focus. You have seen what magic can do when someone is not focused, case in point, Ash's temper tantrums.**

 **I really appreciate your opinion and I hope some of my explanation was able to expand and tell you where I am coming from for this story. Thanks so much!**

* * *

 **Guest :** **I see where you are coming from. I will look into what you have suggested for me to read, and I have read many fanfics that have had awesome character development. And being so new to writing and posting it for others to actually see it, I haven't really found my style for doing just that. In the last chapter, I thought I did an okay job with trying to continue the character development. But alas, the readers have said it still needs work. I appreciate you telling me this. I really do. I may have put myself in a difficult spot by choosing the audience that I have because of the labels on this story, but I am willing to work for it.**

 **But my intention for the development of Ash has certainly taken a different route than I intended, and I was attempting to showcase that through Jason's pov these last couple of chapters. Needless to say Ash still isn't done settling into her new character. Jason is simply reacting to it at this point and trying to make sure that she doesn't lose herself in whatever she may do. Again this is my intention for the plot line of Ash's character development. So it may seem like it comes and goes with each chapter, but I'm simply trying to show other character's opinions on what she is doing. I hope that makes sense.**

 **Again, thank you for the review and the advice! It helps so much. :)**

* * *

 **Nikolasowa** **: Hey you're back! :) and yes I wonder who said that as well.. hehe, we will find out eventually. ;)**

* * *

 **Alrighty. I apologize again for those really long responses to reviews. I'll shorten them up the more I get for each chapter.**

 **For Nechochwen's response, I have actually added most of that information to my profile, with more objective detail rather than actually having character citations. Anyone who visits that instead of the story is missing out on some good stuff inside this story in my opinion. On top of that, there was a little more to their response than what I have actually have written here and all that was included, so feel free to check it out! :)**

 **So after all that, I'm officially done talking.**

 **Until next time!  
**

 **Mogey**


	23. Chapter 23

**Boy oh boy kiddies. I feel like this is my best chapter yet!**

* * *

Chapter 23

Blackness clouded her vision as she was slammed into the metal floor of the freight aircraft they had been thrown into.

Everything was swimming in circles when she opened her eyes. The lights were glaring and she could hear Jason groaning as he came to as well.

Ash blinked again, fighting the nausea that had settles in her stomach. She could not remember if it was from the concussion she just received or from the smoke inhalation. Anyone's guess was as good as hers.

She groaned as she forced herself up onto her elbow and coughed. Her ribs exploded in pain. Yeah, more than one was broken.

Looking over at Jason, she saw him on his side facing her, a grimace distorting his face, she caught his eye and nodded. He nodded back.

They were going to get through this.

Ash coughed again, blood spattering onto the floor in front of her. Sighing in frustration, she collapsed back onto the floor. She was well aware she just face planted her own blood. Yes, she was grossed out but she was too tired to move. They had been locked into a cage on one side of the aircraft. Mer and Feuer were putting up a fight farther back, creating a ton of noise. By the gods, it hurt her head.

 _Mer, stop. We're fine,_ she told her dragon.

Mer roared indignantly. _But we have to get out of here._

 _And what good will that do us now? Look at me and Jase and tell me we look okay to fly._ She snapped. Her head was pounding, it felt just like it did when she first activated her magic. Gods, it hurt so much.

But what she said definitely shut Mer up. He grumbled unhappily and suddenly became docile in front of the soldiers. Feuer followed suit. Both of them kept their teeth bared though, letting the soldiers know that they were still considering them for a meal.

Once the noise stopped, a soldier with a commander's pin on his breast pocket came over to their cage and kicked it harshly.

"What the hell did you do to them?" he yelled.

Ash and Jason flinched, the load noise reverberating through their heads. Apparently their answer did not come quick enough because he kicked the cage again.

"What the fuck did you two do to the dragons?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ash rasped, glaring at the soldier over her shoulder. Why did he suddenly care? They were behaving now, not knocking around soldiers inside the plane.

The commander slammed on the cage again in frustration. "Tell me or we kill 'em."

Ash could not help but laugh. "You guys wouldn't do that." She coughed out another mouthful of blood as she sat up. "You need them. This is the first time you guys have seen a dragon, let alone two. Do you really think I believe that you would kill two perfectly good dragons now?"

She heard Jason huff in agreement. She had them pinned down. There was no way they could actually hurt their dragons.

But calling them out on it may not have been the best idea. Next thing she knew she was being hauled out of the cage and slammed against the wall on the opposite side of the plane.

Well, more like she was thrown. Was that how she went through the wall earlier?

Ash slumped against the ground, having no strength to be able to stand. Her vision was glittering with stars as tried to blink away the tears. She was in so much pain. How the hell did they get into this situation?

Oh that was right. She led them here. So it was her fault again. And this bastard ambushed them inside her house.

She heard Jason shout in warning and she looked up to find the commander raising a fist to pound into her.

At this point she had no energy to even try stopping him. She raised an arm and closed her eyes pathetically, waiting for the blow.

It never came.

Cracking an eye open, she saw that the commander's wrist was being held by another man in a lab coat. The same man who had set these dogs for soldiers on them.

Ash glared at the two of them as they glared at each other.

"Now, now, we shouldn't be harming the subjects so unnecessarily before we have the chance to run the experiments on them, yes?" The one in the lab coat said pleasantly.

The commander wrenched his hand out of the man's grip, snarling, "They did something to the dragons and this one had the audacity to talk back."

"Then shouldn't you be glad that the dragons are now cooperating instead of fighting back?" The lab coat asked.

The commander remained quiet, seething where he stood.

Ash snorted. "You're only upset because I called you out on your bullshit," she ground out as she adjusted her position on the floor, so she was sitting up straighter.

She should really learn to control her mouth she realized as the commander came at her again. She did not even bother to flinch, she was simply too tired to move.

Again the man in the lab coat stopped him. By the gods, that commander was unreasonably angry.

After a moment of struggle, the commander shoved off the lab coat, huffing angrily as he straightened his uniform and glared at the other man.

"Fine, she's you responsibility then. Make sure she gets back in the cage with the other one." With that, he turned and walked off, shouting more orders at the soldiers who had stopped to watch him try to beat on a teenage girl.

Ash let out a ragged breath as the most immediate threat walked away. She closed her eyes and enjoyed her silent moment of reprieve.

"Can you stand, sweetie?" The lab coat asked, just as pleasantly as he did with the commander.

Ash cracked an eye open and observed him. He had gray spread through his hair and goatee. But the man had kind eyes, strange for someone who experimented on humans. She immediately did not like him. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here." The room was still spinning, albeit much slower than before, but it was still quite a bit. She did not trust herself to walk.

The lab coat smiled kindly, although Ash did not believe that smile for a second, and said, "As long you it's not for too long. It would be unfair to your friend over there."

Ash chuckled. "You mean the one that is making his way over because someone forgot to close the door when he threw me across the plane? Sure, that sounds fair."

It was true. Jason was limping towards them as fast as he could. Eventually he finally sat down next to her, panting from pain. Yeah, they really had their ass handed to them.

The lab coat watched them as they leaned on each other as they fought to remain upright.

"I see," he said after a moment of observation. "You two don't seem to be moving for a while, you may stay here. I'll come back and check on you in a few moments." He stood up and walked away, towards the dragons who were still snarling at everything.

"You okay?" Jason whispered. "You hit the wall pretty hard."

Ash nodded, closing her eyes. "Yeah, I think so. Pretty sure my concussion is real bad. The room hasn't stopped spinning yet."

"Probably won't for a while. Look at me real quick." She turned to face him. He flicked a flame onto his first finger and passed it back and forth in front of her eyes. "Yeah, you have a really nasty concussion." He confirmed.

Ash leaned back against the wall and sighed. "Well I won't be sleeping for a while then." This situation sucked.

Jason just nodded in agreement, leaning back as well. "I don't think any of us will be."

Ash remained silent. She felt like breaking. The guilt was killing her at this point. How could she be so stupid? She knew that this place could have been crawling with Government officials, but no. She had to waltz around like she owned the place. As of right now she was sure that her house had been rigged. It was the only way they could have found them so quickly in that town. They had not exactly left a trail to follow through town.

But how had they been overwhelmed so easily?

* * *

 _"Now where is all the fun in that?"_

 _The two teens whipped around to face their unexpected guest. Jason slipped into a fighting stance: knees bent, weight balanced, and hands up to protect his face, elbows in. He lit his hands on fire for added effect. Ash grabbed her gun and leveled it at the man in the doorway, both hands gripping it and her eyes lined up with the sights, her weight slightly forward, and arms outstretched but relaxed. She quickly cocked back the hammer._

 _"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" she asked. Her emotional stress was at an all-time high, it showed in how the latent static energy in the air became more and more excited the longer the three of them stood there._

 _The man in the door was wearing a soldier's uniform, with a commander's pin on his breast. He was smirking dangerously as he watched the two of them._

 _Mer, get your scaly ass over here. We have trouble, she said to her dragon._

 _On it. Was his quick response._

 _"I'll ask again: Who the hell are you?" Ash repeated._

 _The man tsked and shook his finger at them. "For such a young lady, you sure are crass."_

 _Ash gritted her teeth, tamping down on her temper. "Why do you fricking care? Who are you?" She was seriously considering shooting him, answer or no._

 _"Ah-ah," he tsked again. "No need for this to be violent."_

 _Jason raised the temperature of the room, everything was beginning to smolder. "Answer her question." He demanded. He was not amused by the man's refusal to answer their questions._

 _The man shook his head and his grin turned cocky. "You can just call me Commander." His face suddenly turned serious. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way."_

 _Ash snorted and adjusted her grip on her pistol. "And just what do you think you'll be able to do?" It was not like he had any magical abilities that Ash could feel._

 _The commander chuckled. "So it's gonna be the hard way, eh?"_

 _Ash narrowed her eyes and fired off two quick shots, aiming for his chest._

 _Next thing that happened was all blur to her. She was pretty sure she had been thrown through the wall and landed outside in the backyard. Within seconds, the house was exploding into flames. Jason really did a number on it. She was surprised that anything could actually burn here. It was not like there was much fuel left for the fire to feed off of._

 _Jason jumped through the hole she had created and ran towards her. He paused to haul her to her feet and then they were off running again. Over her shoulder, she saw the commander step out of the rubble that was her home._

 _They jumped into the next yard and were confronted by a group of soldiers. Jason leapt in front of her blasted a wall of fire at them. It consumed them quickly, and their screams rang loud and clear, giving away their location._

 _But it did not last long. Their dragons arrived and leveled a few houses with their tails and fire, creating a distraction away from them._

 _They kept running in the same direction, away from the fire Jason had created. They came across another group of soldiers. They immediately opened fire on the two teenagers. Ash's magic took action its own, her fear fueling the series of lightning strikes that struck them._

 _It was the most magic she had ever used in a single moment and she staggered in sudden exhaustion. Jason grabbed her arm and kept her from falling._

 _"Hey, you gotta keep going." He looked as scared as she felt. In fact she was sure her face mirrored his expression._

 _They continued on, but after jumping the fences of a few more backyards, they came across a gigantic plane._

 _Twin roars of pain were heard at the tail end of the plane._

 _Ash did not bother to hesitate running in that direction. Mer was in pain and it was all her fault. Jason was not far behind, shouting Feuer's name with concern._

 _"Mercury!" Ash screamed in desperation as she barreled around the corner of the plane._

 _Both dragons were wrapped up together in an electrified net. It was shocking them with such intensity, Ash swore they vibrated off the ground._

 _"STOP! You're hurting them!" she yelled in desperation as she shoved her way through the soldiers surrounding the dragons, looking for the person who had control of the net._

 _Her eyes lit upon the commander, and in his hand was control, his thumb holding down a button as the net continued to shock the dragons. His face lit op triumphantly._

 _Ash saw red._

 _The winds gathered and turned into cutting gusts. The sky was already darkened by the smoke, but it grew darker as black storm clouds appeared right above them. They were sparking with lightning, and the smoke even began to light up with energy._

 _"Drop the controller, now." She growled. Her hair whipped around her head, and the wind ripped at her clothes._

 _Jason appeared next to her, completely engulfed in flames. He looked like a demon summoned from a dark unknown level of hell._

 _The commander did not even bat an eye at their display of power. In fact, he looked completely unamused._

 _"If you want your dragons to live, you'll stand down." He shouted over the gale force winds._

 _Ash hesitated. They would not really kill both of them, would they? Did they not need them for some sort of experiment? Was that not why they were here ambushing them?_

 _"You only have a few more seconds until they have suffered too much damage. Make you decision."_

 _Ash decided._

 _Everything immediately went still. The debris that was picked up from the winds dropped to the ground. The clouds disappeared, and the static electricity in the smoke was all but gone._

 _Ash was surrendering._

 _Jason looked between her and the commander, hesitating slightly before taking a deep breath and extinguishing his flames._

 _The commander nodded and released the button._

 _"Good, you can see reason." He admired. He turned and walked towards the plane. "Bag 'em."_

 _Ash and Jason were both tasered immediately. Jason dropped like a rock but Ash remained standing. She was still riding her magic, it giving her a boost in electrical resistance. But the soldiers were quick to adapt. They hit her in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle hard enough for her to black out._

* * *

Now here they sat on their way to some lab.

Her tumble through the way at the beginning of all this had cracked a few of Ash's ribs and she was sure her lungs were severely bruised from the sheer force of the hit. She still had no idea how she ended up through a wall, but the commander was acting as if he had not even been shot. She was sure she hit him, she had almost been at point blank range. How the hell was he still standing?

Ash felt her eyes drooping, and her head dropped onto Jason's shoulder, exhausted. The adrenaline was gone and her body was beginning to shut down. She could vaguely feel Jason trying to shake her back to consciousness but at this point, all she wanted to do was sleep.

She felt the fog of promised sleep caress her and she was smitten. Ash allowed sleep to claim her.

* * *

Ash woke up to blinding white lights and Jason shouting her name from across the room.

She looked around, blinking profusely as her eyes adjusted to the lighting. The room was crawling with people. The lab coat that been on the plane was standing in front of her, adjusting restraints that held her to an upright table.

"Wha…the hell are yo…you doing to me?" she muttered. She could feel the dried blood on her face crack as she spoke.

The lab coat looked up and smiled. "Ah, welcome back to the world of living. You were out for quite some time." He said in his sickeningly pleasant voice.

"Don't care. What are you doing to me? Where's my dragon? Where's my friend?" She interrogated, rattling off questions as fast as they came. She fought the restraints.

"Slow down, just take it easy." He forced her back against the table. "Your dragon is fine, so is your friend here." He stepped out of her way and there was Jason.

Thank the gods he was alright.

He had a few new bruises blooming on his face but he was alive and not giving up. His eyes locked with her eyes, relieved that she was awake now. Fear still lingered in them, Ash was sure hers looked the same.

"See, nothing to worry about. The lab coat stepped in front of her again and continued to fiddle with the restraints.

"You've only answered one question." The man was avoiding her other questions.

The lab coat looked up at her and found her staring fiercely at him. She was not going to roll over just because Jason was safe. She was going to get them all out of here.

"Oh, did we mess with your memories too much? You should remember this place at the very least." He said, still as pleasant as ever.

Ash narrowed her eyes. What the hell was he talking about? This place could not be…?

The commander walked in and sneered at them. "Stop the chit-chat and get a move on already."

"Now, now, Commander. They are people too. She was just worried about her friend there." The lab coat said offhandedly. Ash wondered who was actually in charge here; the lab coat acted like he was on the same level as the commander but the commander obviously did not take orders from him either.

The commander brought out a gun and strode over to where Jason was being held. He pushed the barrel against his temple and stared back at them.

"Hey, you leave him alone! He hasn't don-!" Ash started to yell and pull at the restraints.

"Can it. If you don't cooperate, he will have a bullet in his skull." The commander snapped. He turned to the lab coat. "Get a move on."

The lab coat shrugged and continued to mess with the machine. "I really don't believe that kind of action is necessary, Commander."

"Now, Eric. Before I blow the kid's brains out." Eric?

"Touchy, touchy…" he pressed a button.

"Wait! Hold on a-!" Ash was interrupted by the machine's start up sequence. "What are you going to do to me? To him?" She yelled over the noises to the lab coat. "Who are you?"

"This may hurt a little, sweetie," the lab coat cautioned.

"Tell me what is goin-" The pain was unbearable. She clenched her teeth and felt them creak with the pressure.

The commander was still holding the gun to Jason's head. "Turn it up."

"As you wish." The lab coat turned a nob.

Ash screamed.

* * *

 **Eh? It was good right? God I love this chapter. So much happened! Gah, is it possible for authors to fangirl over their own work? Cuz I think I am. :p**

 **On to reviews!**

* * *

 **Guest : Thanks so much! I'll be sure to keep up the good work! Good luck on your exams! (Mine are coming up too..)**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: Your review gave me life! Oh my gosh. Just so you know, I haven't stopped smiling whenever I read your review. :)**

* * *

 **Nikolasowa** **: Here's Ash and Jason! What do you think? (btw, I meant no offense last time, merely expressing that I missed your words of encouragement, please do not feel the need to force yourself to review every new chapter)**

* * *

 **Welp, that's all of it. I hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

She kept screaming.

Jason watched, terrified as Ash had her magic forcibly removed. He watched as she tried in vain to keep it from being drawn out. He trembled in fear knowing it was going to be his turn next.

The commander still had his gun pressed against Jason's head. If only he could get away and turn that damn machine off.

Ash was crying, cursing, and screaming as her body bucked against the restraints. Tears were streaking down her face, her voice now hoarse from the constant screaming.

Jason whimpered, his eyes wide. He had no idea what to do. He could not use his magic with a gun to his head, his magic would do nothing to stop a bullet. He felt terrible for putting his life first as he watched Ash being tortured right before him.

He wanted to yell and scream, anything to make them stop. Her breathing was becoming erratic and she was beginning foam at the mouth, eyes rolling back in her head. She was passing out from pain.

The lab coat, Eric, steeped forward and turned the machine off just before she completely lost consciousness. He began to unbuckle the large straps holding her to the table, taking of the sensors as well.

Jason had enough of standing by and watching.

He scrambled forward and made it just in time to catch Ash before she was unceremoniously dumped to the ground. He held her close as she continued to tremble from being tortured so violently.

The commander made no more towards them, opting to tuck his pistol away in his uniform. Jason glared at him as the man stood there with a smug smirk on his face.

The lab coat knelt down next to them, checking Ash's pulse.

"Well, you'll be disappointed to know that she is still alive, Commander." The lab coat said. He sounded almost angry. Maybe the man had a heart inside after all.

The commander rolled his eyes. "Can she go another round on the extractor?" he asked.

Jason tightened his arms around Ash, her head lolled against his shoulder. There was no way he was going to let them put her in that thing. His eyes were flaming and he heard himself growl. "You will _not_ put her back on that thing!" he snarled.

"I have to agree with the boy. She was maxing out the machine as it is. If either of them were to have a session on the extractor, the machine itself would explode before we gathered all that we need." The lab coat stood up and brushed off imaginary dirt from his pants.

The commander gave the lab coat a cold stare. "You will show me the data after they have been placed in their cell." He left the room.

Jason turned to the lab coat. "She's going to be okay, right? Her magic will come back?" His voice was small and he hugged Ash tighter.

The lab coat looked down at him from a monitor and nodded. "She will be fine. As for the magic…it is hard to say when it will comeback. We took much of it but not all of it."

Jason looked down at the girl in his arms. Ash's face was void of anything, the pain she had just suffered had been too much and her body had shut down. Jason felt the tears gathering in his eyes. He should have done something. He could have done something before the commander put a gun to his head. Why did he just stand there and watch?

Because he was a coward.

He closed his eyes as he felt his tears finally fall down his cheeks. Jason rested his forehead against hers as she cried.

"Please…Please don't give up on me, Ash," he whispered.

"So is that what she calls herself now?" The lab coat asked absently. He had turned back to the monitor, staring at the results.

Jason looked up and glared at him. "What's it to you?" He growled defensively.

The lab coat pushed a button and the screen went black. He took a deep breath, seeming to argue with himself before turning back to where Jason and Ash were on the floor.

"As much as I would like to tell you everything at the moment, we should move to your containment cell before I say anything else," he explained.

Jason took a moment to consider the man's words. He felt that this man before him was trustworthy, but he worked for the Governments. He was so conflicted. This man had more than likely done countless human experiments, yet he has done nothing to them maliciously. Hell, he even stopped the commander from giving Ash a pointless beating from earlier.

He looked into the lab coat's eyes and saw something he least expected: worry. Jason was taken aback by the amount of worry that was in this man's eyes. That solidified his decision.

Nodding, he said, "Okay, but you will explain everything once we get there got it?"

The lab coat shrugged. Even though both of the teenagers could snarl like dragons and had magical abilities beyond their comprehension at the moment, they posed no threat as they were now.

The lab coat did not bother to help Jason as he stood up, carrying Ash bridal style. His legs trembled from his exhaustion but there was no way he was going to let anyone else handle Ash. She was still unconscious but her breathing had calmed down and was regular.

* * *

The lab coat led them out of the room that they were in and into a series of hallways. Everyone seemed to have their noses stuck in reports as they passed by, not sparing a single look at the two bruised and bloody teenagers. Well, Ash was the bloodiest of the two of them from her coughing fit on the plane.

Eventually they reached a hallway that wound its way underground. It was strange that they did not design stairs or an elevator in this building instead opting for ramps. Jason never got the chance to see where the building was located but he could only assume they were inside a mountain somewhere. The air, despite the purifiers set up in the venting system, smelled wet and dank, much like a cave.

When they turned another corner, Jason found the reason why the hallways were sloped. They were in fact inside a mountain, the architecture of the building stopped and turned into the hollowed out tunnels, rough walls and ceilings, dirt packed level for the flooring. All the lighting was exposed. Lining the tunnel was person upon person, most were hooked up to machines, lying on mobile beds. Some had their own rooms, actually lit up holes in the wall that would classify as rooms. Most of the people were hooked up to life support and were in comas.

They walked past all of those people, Jason shuddering at the thought of how long they had been here, suffering and being tortured. Some of the sights were so gruesome, he caught himself gagging. That was when he decided that he would just watch the lab coat in front of him.

They made their way to the end of the main tunnel before turning and entering a small cavern.

"You two will be staying here." The lab coat said.

There were two twin sized beds on either side of the cavern. A small divider showcased where the plumbing was installed. One light hung down from the ceiling, casting the room in a dull glow.

Jason did not hesitate to take Ash to the nearest bed. He somehow managed to pull back the poor excuse for a blanket and lay Ash down without dropping her. Once he was certain that she would be comfortable for now, he turned back to the lab coat, eyes ablaze. It was time for him to start explaining things.

"Okay, we're here. Talk." He snapped. He stayed standing next to Ash, watching the lab coat.

The man walked over and stopped at the foot of the bed, staring at Ash, much in the same way he had seen Garret look at him and A'ilarin to Ash: like a parent.

"Who are you to her?" he asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

The man sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He opened them and continued staring at Ash. "She's my daughter believe it or not," he said finally.

Jason visibly bristled. It took all of his control to not slam the man against the wall. Repeatedly. He may have sounded forgiving when Ash had told him about her newfound childhood, but in reality, he wanted to beat the man senseless for what he had done to her. He had been glad that he had been dead.

But here he stood, alive and well, gazing down at his 'daughter' the way a loving and concerned parent should. He had no right to look at her that way.

"You mean to tell me that you're the-the sick fuck who did _that_ to her when she was a kid?" Jason's voice was quivering with barely concealed rage. He was clenched his fists in order to keep from hitting the man.

Ash's father nodded. "But I never wanted to." He paused, thinking. "Well, maybe at the very beginning. She was the only one with magic that we would find and I had just recently recalibrated-"

Jason lost it. He moved so quickly that the man looked vaguely confused as to how he was being pinned to the wall to suddenly. Jason clenched his fists around the lapels of his lab coat, wrinkling the front of it. The air was simmering around him as his magic fought to be released in his anger. His teeth were bared, his canines flashing in the low light.

"Why?" he snarled. "Why would you do that to your own daughter? What the fuck made you think that it would be okay to do that?"

The man removed Jason's hands from his lab coat with surprising ease, looking nonplussed with Jason's angry reaction. He patted himself down, smoothing some of the wrinkles the boy had created.

"You must realize that I am a scientist, boy," his tone had taken a dark edge to it compared to his normally pleasant one, "and that I am always analyzing and observing everything. I can tell you from the few hours that the two of you have been in our custody that you both care for each other. How much is hard to say because that would require more observation, but it is clear that it is a great deal."

Jason stood there simmering in rage. This man had been objectifying them from the very beginning.

"Secondly, I am a father. You must know that Ashley had siblings. You saw the bedroom where their bones were." The lab coat gave him a critical look. "I have never wanted the experimentation to get to the point where my daughter would be put up for consideration to be paired with a dragon's egg."

"If you didn't want her to go through this then why do it at all?" Jason asked quietly.

"Boy, I already explained this. My machine had been recalibrated and she was the most immediate person that had enough magic the machine could receive at the bare minimum to operate."

"That doesn't make it okay!" Jason shouted in frustration. "A parent doesn't do that to their own child! It's wrong."

The man looked genuinely sad. "Which is why I don't want to put her through this again. I left the egg on purpose. I knew it would hatch for her from the first time they made contact. It was a week after that she ran away with the newly hatched dragon." He sighed sadly as if talking about the situation from the twelve years ago had dredged up more than just the sad memory of Ash running away. "What I hadn't predicted was for the Government that I have worked for the past twenty years was destroy a town because an experiment was lost to them. My family- her family- were caught in those fires. They did not stop until everyone had been reduced to piles of ashes and bones. They had forced me to watch."

Jason did not know what to say. He was still baffled as to how a parent could put their child through that, scientist or no. But to be forced to watch as your town was burned to the ground along with your family? That was a whole new level of cruelty from the Governments. Why were they doing this in the first place?

Ash moaned just as Jason was to ask. She was starting to wake up. Jason forgot his question and rushed to her side, kneeling down next to her head.

She shook her head back and forth slowly before opening her eyes slightly.

"Wha…? Where are- where am I?" She stumbled over her words, sounding like she was drunk. It appeared the machine did more than just take her magic away, it probably made her concussion worse.

"Hey," he said gently, completely ignoring her dad over at the foot of the bed, who was watching closely. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh," she moaned, raising a hand to her forehead. "Like I'm still on the merry-go-round." She blinked the sleep out of her eyes. When Jason got a good look at them, one pupil was still much larger than the other, meaning her concussion was quite severe now.

"I figured as much," he chuckled. Leave it to her to make a silly analogy in a situation like this.

She took a deep breath and started to hack up a lung. Jason brought her up to a sitting position so she had an easier time clearing her airways. Blood spattered into her hands. Was a lung actually punctured?

The lab coat noticed and he shifted into action, pulling out a stethoscope from one of the deep pockets. He shoved Jason out of the way as he put the earplugs in and ordered Ash to breathe as deeply as she could.

For once she complied without any snark. Jason sat on the floor eyes wide with worry. The lab coat had her breath two or three times before he moved the bell of the stethoscope to a different place. After that he took out a light pen and flashed in in her eyes, watching how her pupils dilated. He prodded at her ribs, albeit gently, and she winced when certain ones were touched.

"You definitely have a few cracked ribs, but your lungs don't seem to be punctured, just mildly swollen. As for you concussion… you won't be able to move around well on your own for a few days, and judging by the way your weaving back and forth now, you're still quite dizzy from it. I would suggest you lie back down." He prattled off as he gently pushed her back down. Ash had been weaving slightly once she was unsupported.

Jason moved to the head of the bed and sat down on the floor, next to her. He watch as she narrowed her eyes at the lab coat suspiciously.

"Why do you care?" she asked. Jason knew the answer, but he kept his mouth shut, waiting to see if her father will reveal himself now or later.

The man decided to turn tail and run.

"Believe it or not, we need both of you to be in fairly healthy conditions for the experiments to work. I'll be sending a nurse to give you both a once over and some medicine to help with the pain." And with that he left the room.

Ash scoffed in disbelief. "If they want us healthy, then they shouldn't put us in that damn machine." She muttered.

Jason could not agree more. Her episode one the machine just a little while ago was enough for him to believe how painful it was. And her so called dad could not even tell his daughter, his only surviving family member, that he was alive. Someone give him dad of the decade.

Jason refocused on Ash. She was pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes. Everything about her screamed exhausted. He felt the same way.

"Why are you sitting on the floor when there's a perfectly good bed over there?" Ash asked after a few minutes of quiet.

Jason shrugged. "You need someone to make sure you stay awake as long as possible." He gave her a sidelong look.

Ash rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. Go get some sleep. You're making me tired by looking at you." She waved him off with her hand.

But he was not going anywhere. He shook his head stubbornly. "Ash, you need to stay up for atleast twenty-four hours before you can start sleeping. If I have to stay up with you to make that happen, I will." He picked himself up from the floor and plopped down at the foot of the bed.

She scrunched up her feet and made room for him.

"You're pretty stupid, you know that right?" She quipped, as she rolled over onto her side, facing the room.

Jason sighed, "I only get that from you. That's not exactly a lot of people telling me that I am."

She puffed out her cheeks. "Whatever. Still true."

Jason rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Sure, if that makes you happy." He guessed the shock of what happened was what was making her act like her old self.

"Of course it does. What better way to feed my ego than to know you're not as great as me?" Ego? Since when did she care about that?

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, Ash," he muttered with a small chuckle. He caught her grinning for a few second before she sobered up.

"Did anything happen while I was out?"

Jason now had to face the dilemma of whether he should tell her about her father was still alive. Could Ash even handle that emotionally right now? She has basically pulled a one-eighty in personality. Probably from the concussion rattling her brains.

"Just the walk back here. The commander guy wanted you to have another round on that thing again but the lab coat said you maxed out the machine." Yeah, he wimped out. Just like her dad did a few minutes ago.

"Oh," she said quietly. She was more than likely going to have nightmares about that machine.

"But I'm surprised you're awake so soon. How'd you manage that?" He was genuinely curious. If it had been him, he was sure that he would be out for hours.

"Oh, um, well Mer woke me up."

"Mercury woke you up?" Jason repeated slowly to make sure he heard right.

Ash apparently decided this was a conversation where she needed to sit up, and she did so rather quickly. Her spatial judgement was still off because she nearly fell over into his lap. But he caught her shoulders and helped her sit back against the wall next to him. "You should really keep the moving to a minimum," he muttered.

She waved him off again. "I told you I'm fine," she said as she started to lean to her other side.

Jason grabbed her shoulder and pulled her over to lean on him. "Says the person who can't even sit up right."

"Tch, whatever," she sounded slightly put out, but she did not try to sit up on her own again.

"Okay, so before you decided to prove yourself again, you said Mercury woke you up?" he said, trying to get them back on track.

"Yeah, apparently since I passed out so violently, I called on the bond and he had to wake me up." She massaged her chest, where the bond-mark was. "He was rather rude about it," she sniffed.

Jason could not help but crack a smile at the last part but it did not last long. "How much do you know about the bond? Garrett didn't explain it at all to me."

Ash shrugged. "I only know that it's a last ditch effort for a lot of things."

"Like what exactly?"

Ash was quiet for a few moments as she thought. "Well, say your dragon is out hunting and they are outside of your ranger. You can use the bond to call them back. It hurts like hell though."

"Huh. I've never had to do that with Feuer." Jason said thoughtfully.

"Probably because something bad would happen to you if he left for too long. We all know you can be kinda useless under pressure." Ash quipped sarcastically.

Little did she know that was exactly how he felt about himself. But Jason forced him to shrug off the unintentional jab and focus on the situation at hand.

"Can you tell where they are? I can't feel Feuer's presence anywhere."

Ash concentrate, but shook her head after a moment. "No, not really. My magic is pretty much nonexistent right now."

Duh, she was going to be low on power for a few days until she could even be able to muster up a breeze. How could he forget that?

Before he could say something in return, a woman walked in with a medical cart. She smiled kindly at both of them as she made her way over. She was wearing nurse's scrubs and a lab coat, just like everyone else in this building except for the soldiers.

"Hello, I'm Carla. Professor Eric sent me here to make sure you were both doing okay." Her voice was soft and sweet. Compared to the commander's yelling, she was a walk in the park for their ears.

"She needs more attention than I do," Jason said, jerking a thumb at Ash.

Ash started to protest that she was fine by sitting up on her own, but the way she moved aggravated her ribs and she hissed in pain. Carla was immediately there, prodding at them gently to find the ones that were cracked. Once that was done, she turned to Jason and asked, "Can you move to the other side of the room or look away? I need her to take off her shirt to I can wrap her ribs properly."

Jason blushed lightly at the thought of Ash being shirtless and instantly was off the bed and limping over to the other one. He sat down and stared twin holes into the wall as Carla treated Ash. Occasionally he heard Ash hiss in pain and he was tempted to look but he kept his eyes locked on the wall. He heard Carla tell her to take some pain medication and then the cart was rolling over to his side of the cavern. His turn.

The nurse was gentle as she moved around his limbs to check his joints. She checked his eyes, looking for any signs of a concussion, but thankfully throughout the whole capture and transportation process, he had not hit his head on anything. For the most part, he only felt muscle soreness from being tasered before being loaded onto the plane. Carla gave him a clean bill of health and a bottle of water.

Over her shoulder, he saw Ash lying down on her side, watching as the nurse treated him. And as soon as she was done, Jason moved back over to Ash's bed.

"I will be back with some food for both of you. Professor Eric has said that I'm in charge of your health, so at meal times, I will bring you food. For now try to relax." Carla left the room, rolling her cart out along with her.

Jason had no idea how hungry he was until the nurse had mentioned food and his stomach growled in response. He heard Ash's stomach do the same thing. He grinned at her as he settled back into his original spot on the bed.

Ash sat back up and leaned against him, pressing as close as she could. She was shivering.

Jason looked down at her, concerned. "You okay?"

She nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah, the pain medication is working wonders right now. I'm just cold."

"And sapping my body heat is the best way to change that?"

"You use fire magic. You're naturally warmer than everybody else."

Jason raised his eyebrows. He honestly had not noticed, he never had someone to really call his friend, let alone some to try and cuddle him for warmth. Now it made sense why never really had to bundle up like Ash had to when flying.

He allowed a small smile to creep its way onto his face. Everything was going alright for now. They just had to get their strength back and they would be able to break their way out of here soon enough.

* * *

 **Alrighty people, we can take a breather with this chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed! Cuz this will be the last chapter for about a week. Next week is full of exams for me and Ill be studying for those.**

 **On to reviews!**

* * *

 **Guest** **: Yes, many things are starting to come together after such a long time of just exploring the somewhat daily lives of our favorite characters. But not everything is converging yet, we still have a few more lines to appear before we start the final convergence.**

 **Good luck on your exams, I look forward to reading what you thought of the chapters that will happen while you are studying! :)**

* * *

 **Nechowchwen** **: We finally see that Eric is in fact Ash's father, though Ash does not seem to know that herself. Her head isn't quite screwed on right this chapter and it will take some time before she is able to return to normal. Needless to say, it will be interesting** **to write from her perspective while she is still dealing with her concussion. Hope you enjoyed. :)**

* * *

 **Nikolasowa** **: Yes, I'm working on chapters that are from different point of views, dragons included!**

* * *

 **Welp, that's all I got for now. See you guys in about a week!**

 **Until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey guys, I'm back and survived my exams! Whatever you do, do not take multivariate calculus unless you want to be an engineer or physicist. This stuff is horrible, I hate it.**

 **Any-who** **.. Here's the next chapter, thanks for being patient!**

* * *

Chapter 25

Eric walked into the lab to find the commander staring at one of the screens, an unpleasant scowl on his face.

"Don't try to think too much, Commander, it's unbecoming of you," he said, announcing his presence in the room.

The commander's scowl deepened. "We don't have time to you your games, _Professor_." Oh, how Eric loved to play with this man.

"Ah, but we do," Eric smiled lightly, concealing his contempt for the commander, "Since you were so heavy handed with the two Riders and their dragons, we have to give them a few days of recovery before we can begin the real experiments." Eric was furious with the commander and how he had treated the teenagers and their dragons. It delayed his experiments.

"The commander frowned. "What does it matter? They can heal themselves in a short amount of time with their magic."

Eric sighed in frustration. With all the years of being his handler, he would have thought the commander would have bothered to pay attention to what he had been saying the past twelve years. "That's not how it works, Commander. The two we managed to retrieve today are nothing more than children in the eyes of mature Riders. They have only begun to tap into their magical potential. Healing capabilities are out of their range of possibilities for the time being," he explained.

"Then why did we capture them? They're no use to us now as they are."

Eric gave the commander a droll stare. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who overrode my instructions of observing them before moving in for capture."

The other man scoffed, but did not offer a retort. He was only here until Eric provided substantial results, there was no need for him to befriend anyone or listen to them. Eric returned the same feelings, having little to no patience with the man. The commander had been assigned to observe the professor until he was seen fit to operate his lab by himself. Eric had always found himself pleasant to deal with unless someone happened to be stupid and in power. The commander was a prime example of this. And it was showcased today when he had taken his troops, stormed the town, and cornered his daughter and the boy with her. They were posing no threat and he had simply wanted to observe before approaching them. Their dragons had not been with them when they had entered the town, choosing to wait outside of town until their Riders had called them.

"Eric, explain this data to me. What is it saying?" The commander asked gruffly. Still, after twelve years, he could not read any results that happened in this lab, always relying on Eric to translate.

Eric moved to one of the computers and began to scroll through the data, shoving down his frustrations with the other man in the room. He could have fed the commander false information but that would not bring him any closer to having the man removed from his assignment as overseer. The Governments would send a new, less pleasant person in his stead, and Eric simply did not want to take the time to learn a new person each time he tried to pull the cotton over their eyes. So he settled for this brute.

Looking at the lines and lines of data, Eric began to make sense of it all. Before his daughter had been placed in the extractor, she had a majority of her magic, her stores almost full. After she had been removed, she only had roughly a quarter left of what she began with. That was to be expected, they were limited by the extractor's processors.

He moved to a different monitor to sift through more data, this set describing her aura and natural abilities. Eric frowned and hummed to himself thoughtfully. This was new.

"Can you describe to me the moment the two Riders found you and their captured dragons?" he asked. He needed to confirm some points from the data before he can give the commander a full debrief.

"It was a routine hostage situation. We know they are emotionally attached to those giant lizards, so we capitalized on that. What more do you want? You were there."

Eric sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, Commander. You held me against my will inside the plane until we took off again."

The large man waved him off. "Semantics. What do you need to know?"

Eric continued to scroll through the data as he explained. "I already told you what I need to know: Describe to me the moment the Riders found you and their dragons. What happened? Did the girl use magic? Did unexplainable events happen before you threatened to kill both dragons like an idiot?"

The commander crossed his arms, annoyed. "The winds picked up shortly after the girl saw the dragons and confronted me." He said curtly, ignoring the quip Eric had made.

"I see. Anything else? More weather anomalies?"

"The static electricity in the air was much higher after the girl saw the dragons, but they were being electrocuted at the same time, so I doubt it was all her."

Eric nodded and continued to scroll. "Ah, well, that certainly makes sense now."

The commander stiffened. "What makes sense?" he asked, apprehensive.

"The girl has weather magic."

"What does that have to do with anything to do with the experiment?"

It did not actually affect the experiment but it was quite interesting. All other subjects had very normal magic types, all within the range of manipulating one element. But having weather magic combined a variety of magic types together.

"Do not worry, Commander," Eric assured. "This information is simply intriguing. I wonder if she will be able to isolate the different types of magic…" he wandered off in thought. His mind was racing though a new series of experiments to test his new theory.

"Professor. I'm sure the Governments would love to fund some of your new ideas, but we have another assignment that is more pressing at the moment."

Eric blinked, stopping his racing thought. "Ah, yes, my apologies, Commander." Damn he really needed to get a better handle on that.

"What else can you tell me about the data?"

Eric moved to a new bank of monitors. "We can confirm that her magic is the same as an Elder. Comparing it with the data on hand… Ah, yes, her magical capabilities exceed the Elder's."

The commander nodded. "Good. What's the next step?"

"We have to wait for the machine to finish cycling through the magic we extracted today. Then we can see what the boy can do." Eric saved all the data and printed it off for his files.

"Good, good. I'm going to go check on those reptiles we have now, they should be waking up soon." The commander told him. Eric noticed a masochistic gleam in his eyes.

"Don't do anything rash. They are intelligent creatures and should be treated respectfully, Commander." Eric warned.

"Yeah, yeah," the man grumbled, waving off the professor over his shoulder.

* * *

His scales hurt. His wings hurt. This whole situation was turning into a nightmare.

Mercury raised his heavy eyelids and eyed the cave he was chained in. He was muzzled and had a short leash attached to the floor. All of his claws were tethered together with more chains, just his elbows and ankles. All of which he would deal with without complaint, but what made his scale bristle was the worst part of his containment.

His wings had been pinned down to the ground, fully outstretched. Any movement was painful. He could not move them unless he wanted to tear his wings to shreds. The rusty smell of blood flooded his nostrils through the muzzle, leaving him feeling dizzy. Blood never phased him, he was a dragon, and blood came with being a predator. But having to smell his own blood left him feeling cornered and wounded. He was ready to strike at anything that moved.

He growled angrily. If the people who had done this to him would not have done it when Ash had activated the bond, his wings would not have been nailed to the ground. Having the bond activated rendered him unconscious each time it happened to him.

He heard rustling and the clinking of chains off to the side and he saw Feuer open his eyes. They glowed slightly in the dark because of their vibrant color.

He had been spared from being pseudo crucified by being less rowdy than he had been. Mercury had only struggled because Ash's condition was deteriorating, he had felt her magic being ripped away at an alarming rate, causing him to fall into a panic. Normally he was the calm and collected one between them, but she had called out to him so desperately that he was forced into action.

Then the bond had been activated and he was forced into Ash's mental space, leaving his body void of his presence. That was when the soldiers took the time to nail him down.

He was furious! He would be lucky to have his wing membranes heal all the way and not leave holes or tears. Mercury roared in frustration through the muzzle.

 _If you keep that up, you'll tear your wings,_ Feuer advised.

 _I know,_ Mercury growled back. He absently tried to rustle his wings in agitation and he felt some of the thin membrane tear in one or two places. He whined in pain, laying his wings as flat as he could, fresh blood dripped onto the ground.

Feuer rattled his chains, just as agitated. He had been muzzled and his claws chained together, but he was not forced to crouch against the floor unnaturally.

 _Can you feel them?_ Mercury asked once they had settled again. Feuer had gotten as close as he could to comfort the silver dragon. The two of them had grown quite close since Jason and Feuer had joined their household. Despite Mercury's constant pestering at times, they treated each other like nest-mates. Well, as close to nest-mates as they could get. Brothers would be a good term for them.

 _No, my connection with Jason is not nearly as strong as yours is with Ashley._ Feuer responded.

 _I can't reach her either. Ash's magical signature is so faint that I can't from a connection with it._

 _So we are stuck waiting till it is back?_

 _Unfortunately._ Mercury glared towards the opening of the cave. He was going to get out of this and find Ash.

A half hour of attempting to light the entrance of the cave on fire with simply his eyes, the commander walked in, an evil gleam in his eyes. Mercury and Feuer both elicited menacing sounds, filling the cave with their snarls.

The commander just laughed at them, reveling in their anger. The two dragons could feel the contempt towards them rolling off of him in waves. He thought they were simple minded animals. How wrong he was.

Smoke leaked out of Mercury's muzzle and he slashed his tail. What was this man doing here? What did he want with them?

The commander began to walk around the silver dragon, appraising it. "It's amazing that the little girl we just finished torturing is able to handle you," he sneered.

Mercury felt his blood run cold with anger. They actually tortured Ash? Why? She could barely even stand up right when they were brought here, what information could they have wanted from her? Could have gotten?

His growling intensified, just short of roaring at the man.

"Oh, can you beasts understand me?" The commander stopped circling him and stood in front of his nose. Mercury could smell the sweat from the man that clung to his uniform.

Mercury snarled and pulled at the chains keeping his head down. He hated being forced into this submissive position.

The commander grinned at him. "Maybe we will finally find out what makes you tick, little dragon. Maybe your little Rider too." He was sick to inflict torture on anyone willingly, it was whole other level to suggest dissection.

Mercury never had the taste for human flesh before, but this man was testing his reasons for avoiding it. There would be nothing more he would like to do but to use this man's bones as tooth picks.

The commander saw the fury in his eyes and laughed before he turned to Feuer. If his eyes could produce fire, they would have been bonfires at this point. His tail was lashing back and forth and he had half spread his wings, making himself look bigger. His scales were bristling and if it were not for the chains holding him against the wall, the commander would have been shredded and turned to ash from the heat that the black and orange dragon was giving off.

"Then there's you," the commander began. "The boy who rides you…he's quite protective, isn't he. Why is that? What could have made him like that?" He walked around Feuer, just out of reach from his tail and wings.

The dragon's eyes snapped in fear and anger, demanding to know what the commander was getting at. He would not lower himself to speak with such a despicable man.

"Oh, yes, wasn't there an incident about three years back? Ah, maybe it was four? It was such a long time ago… But it was up in the Spine, was it not?"

Mercury glanced at Feuer, was that where they were from? _Feuer, what is he talking about?_

The other dragon glanced at him. _The night Garrett and Nova died._

The commander paused and snapped his fingers in revelation, his eyes lighting up. "Yes, that's it! You were there, near one of our energy plants when you were spotted. We almost had that older Rider contained before he committed suicide and escaped us." He began to walk around again, a smile on his face. "He would have been a much better subject. And that dragon? Oh boy…it had atleast ten feet on the both of you. Perfect specimen."

He turned his back on the both of them and headed to the cave's entrance. "Oh well," he sighed, "You two will just have to do. Hope you will survive…" And he was gone, his booted footsteps echoing off the tunnel wall.

Mercury felt all of his muscles relax, no longer feeling threatened. He heard Feuer sigh and make himself comfortable next to him.

 _That was rather unpleasant,_ he said.

 _That is the kind way of putting it._ Feuer rolled his eyes.

Mercury turned his stormy gaze to the cave's opening once more. He searched for Ash. She was much deeper into the mountain than they were. Her magic was still just out of reach, not enough for him to grab onto so he could check on her. Jason was no better.

They were forced to stay in the cave. And wait.

* * *

 **Okay, so exams are basically over, only one more till my spring break and that's next week. Literally skipping town that night to be home with my doggies.. :) Have I mentioned I have 5 dogs? I'm not kidding. :P**

 **Onto reviews!**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: Here's the update, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the compliment! It's much appreciated. :)**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: Ash's father is quite the character, isn't he? He's quite fun to write, finally someway to put my psychology class to use!**

* * *

 **Nikolasowa** **: Glad you enjoyed it!**

* * *

 **Keep the reviews coming! I love knowing that my readers are enjoying this story, it gives me the warm fuzzy feeling inside and I sit grinning like an idiot at my computer for who knows how long because of all of you sweet and helpful words. I wish I were joking, but I'm not. :P**

 **That's all I got for now, peeps. Hope you enjoyed. See you next chapter! And remember what I said about calculus!**

 **Until next time!  
Mogey**


	26. Chapter 26

**The late night muse has struck me again. I wish sleeping was a thing these days...**

* * *

Chapter 26

A'ilarin flew through the mountains, searching for any sign of run ways and launch pads. That plane that took Ashley and Jason and their dragons had to land and take off somewhere. But so far she had found nothing.

After the first day or two of looking for them, they had found a cave large enough to house Nyetia and set it up as a base camp. It allowed them to have a reference point and a place to store things for the time being. It would be unfair for A'ilarin to force Nyetia to wear the armor at all times and to search quickly and thoroughly in the mountains.

Worry had eaten away at A'ilarin and it had started to take its toll. Forget sleeping the past week. Her appetite had all but disappeared as well. At this rate if she did not take care of herself, there would be little to no chance of finding Ash, Jason, and their dragons. She knew that. Very well. The same thing happened when she was searching for Garrett and Nova. Now history was repeating itself a decade later. A'ilarin could not bring herself to take more than a few bites of her meal or more than an hour's sleep at a time. Worry was making her sick and keeping her from a good night's sleep.

The sun dipped below the mountain and they were shrouded in shadow. A'ilarin turned Nyetia back to their cave for the night.

The dragon was worried as well, but she was taking it much better than her Rider. A'ilarin had seen how Nyeita had removed herself from the situation to maintain an objective eye. But no matter what A'ilarin made herself think or do, she could not remove herself and her feelings. She was too invested. Ashley was as much of a daughter to her as she could be, minus the adoption papers. She was simply too invested in Ashley to think clearly.

 _A'ilarin, we will find them,_ Nyetia reassured. She knew quite well that Ashley could be resourceful. She could take care of herself when she needed to.

 _I know we will,_ A'ilarin sighed. _The question is will we be too late?_

* * *

It felt like they had been here for weeks now, but in fact it had been just short of a week.

Sitting on her bed, she was trying to remember what happened. The first two days were hazy at best, but the subsequent days were much clearer. So, after the first few days of a constant intake of pain medication, Ash was finally able to move around their little cave without Jason having to help her walk around. That had been really awkward the first couple of times she wanted to go to the bathroom. He had almost flat out refused to walk her over until she started crawling on all fours to get there. He had picked her up, set her on her feet, and walked her to the toilet, mumbling something about not wanting her to degrade herself. She had thought it was so hysterical, she nearly collapsed on all fours again just to laugh. But that had been the pain medicine laughing for her.

Since then, she had been gradually gaining her motor control back. After a day of bugging Jason with her boredom, he agreed to teach her some new fighting techniques. It took some convincing, but she was through sitting around and doing nothing while waiting to be taken away for whatever terrible experiments the Governments had planned for them, not that they had not been bothered for the past week. Ash hated to be sitting still for hours on end. The lessons kept them occupied and their minds off of the nightmares they both had about being here. They focused on the basic motions, not putting any force behind their 'hits', Ash was still finding her balance and her ribs have not fully healed after all.

She found out rather quickly that Jason was quite serious about knowing only martial arts, he knew more than she did and she had been practicing hand-to-hand fighting since A'ilarin had taken her in. Ash knew Jason had given her a run for her money the few times they had sparred so A'ilarin could gauge what he knew, but there was no more after that. Apparently he knew enough to pass her standards with flying colors.

Ash smiled at the memory of watching them fight. She sighed. She missed A'ilarin terribly. She felt so ashamed for leaving without telling her anything. Ash had been so angry when A'ilarin had told her not to go to her old town. She had barely given her a reason why not to, but Ash's anger had made her turn a blind eye to reason. Why had she not stopped to listen to A'ilarin? They would not be in this mess if it were not for that. She, Jason, and their dragons had been gone for upwards a week now, and A'ilarin must be losing her mind trying to find them. And Ash still had no clue to where they were in this blasted mountain chain.

One good thing was happening though. Her magic was slowly restoring itself. That first day, they had nearly taken all of her magic and it was taking its sweet old time coming back to her. By now, her stores were only a third of the way full, and it still was not enough to be able to contact Mer. Okay, may be it was not as good as she thought.

The squeaky wheels of a cart and multiple footsteps alerted her and Jason of people approaching their cave.

Carla and the professor both walked in. Carla had her cart with her and she immediately made her way towards Ash. Time for her daily check-up. Ever since the first day of their capture, she had been in the cave daily to make sure she was recovering properly.

She gave Ash a wide smile. For whatever reason, the nurse had taken quite a liking to Ash and always treated her like a daughter. Not that Ash really knew the difference between a mentor and a mother, but she could only guess that was why the nurse was doting on her more than she was Jason.

Ash went through the motions of the check-up, keeping a close eye on the professor, who was talking with Jason. The man still made Ash uneasy, but he felt familiar at the same time. Regardless of how she felt about the man, she was extremely cautious around him, even though he treated them both with respect.

Currently, the two of them were in some sort of whisper battle. Jason was looking angrier and angrier the longer they argued, but what they were talking about she did not know. They were talking to so quietly that she could not hear anything important.

She hissed slightly when Carla started to prod at her ribs a little more forcibly. The nurse muttered to herself about how Ash's ribs were nearly healed and only minor bruising was left. Her lungs had been clear and the swelling from their first day had all but disappeared. Carla gave her one more does of pain medication, a pat on the head, and she was bustling off with her cart out of the cave.

The professor remained behind, now locked in a heated staring contest with Jason. Jason was clearly winning, his eyes flickering with resolve. What was he so steadfast about?

Before she could say something and interrupt, the professor turned to her, a tired look in his eyes.

"What?" she said indignantly. _Why is he looking at me like that?_ She said silently to Jason.

 _Just go with it,_ was the only response she got from him.

She huffed but stared back at the man before her. He still had not answered her, just staring at her. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, and she fidgeted.

After a few moments, Jason sighed in exasperation. "Are you going to tell her or am I going to?" he asked.

The man whirled around and glared at him. Ash raised an eyebrow. What the heck was going on?

"I'll have you know, boy, I do not have all the patience in the world." The professor said.

Jason did not even blink. "Well neither do I. Nor does she. You tell her now or I will," he snapped.

"I will tell her, there is no need to rush me."

Ash narrowed her eyes at both of them. "What the hell are the two of you talking about? Tell me what?"

"It is-"

"He's your dad."

They said at the same time. They both glared at each other, one with contempt and the other with anger.

"I was going to tell her! Why did you speak?"

"Oh bull shit, you have been dancing around this for the past week and you were just about to say 'it is not important' again."

These two were fighting like an old married couple. Ash leaned against the wall, letting them voice their angers at each other. Saying the professor was her father would definitely explain why she felt so conflicted around him. On one end of the spectrum, she felt at ease with him, but on the other end, she knew she could not trust him. So why was he hiding that fact from her?

They were still barking at each other, completely forgetting about the fact that she was still there, and still waiting for a proper explanation.

"Hey! Will you two shut up for a minute?" she shouted at them. Her voice echoed of the walls of the cave.

Both males flinched at her tone and turned to look at her. She glared at both of them.

"One of you, start explaining what this is all about. Now. Not really in the mood to be playing mind games." She crossed her arms and made herself comfortable on the bed. Well, as comfortable as she could get on the rock hard mattress.

The professor, her dad, sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What the boy said was true. I am you father."

"I got that part. Why did you not say anything? We've been here for a week now, plenty of time to spill the beans." She sniffed. She was not going to let him off easy.

"I have no excuse, if that's what you are wanting to know."

Ash shrugged her shoulder. "So what? Are you expecting me to be happy that we found each other again? I mean the rest of our family was burned, sure you saw that, and now there is only the two of us left."

"Yes, I saw what they did first hand. As it was happening."

Ash gritted her teeth. This man had no fight in him, and she remembered her mother being a pushover as well. Where the hell did all her fire come from? The sun?

"Well, here we are. The two of us Keyes. Hope you're happy, cuz I'm not. You haven't changed at all. You're still doing human experimentation, twelve years after my escape. And would you look at that? I'm one of you test subjects again. And see there, I brought a friend. I bet you're having the time of your life right now." To say Ash was bitter about being an experiment again was an understatement.

Jason remained silent, but he looked at the professor with pity in his eyes. Maybe she had thrown the guilt trip a little thick, but she was not going to roll over and do whatever her father wanted just because she was his daughter. She was simply a test subject in his eyes and there was no way in hell that she was going to take her punishment nicely.

The professor had remained silent throughout her little tirade, but now it was his turn to speak. "You may have been gone for twelve years but that does not mean you can disrespect me, someone who has still treated you with respect despite what you are. You-"

"Oh please!" Ash rolled her eyes and stood up, wobbling slightly but maintained her footing. "You have been experimenting this whole time. You started with me when I was what? Two years old? Like what the hell? I was barely able to walk when you began your experiments on me! Do you know how wrong that is? Aren't there laws against that?"

"The laws do not apply to likes of you." He seethed.

Ash felt her eyes sparking. "The likes of me? Really? Just because I am a Rider mean that the laws do not apply to me? That you can do whatever to me? Are you serious right now?" Ash stalked up to him, stopping barely foot away. "If it weren't for your experiments, I wouldn't be here as a Rider."

She saw Jason stiffen. She knew she sounded so angry about being a Rider, but she did not regret being one. She was merely proving a point to this man before her.

The professor stepped back, putting space between them in an attempt to escape her fury.

"You were going to die from the amount of magic you had as a young child, it was overwhelming you. The experiments I performed on you saved your life." He defended.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I should thank you for that." She said sarcastically. "So, thank you for the magic extraction, thank you for the dragon egg, and _thank you for letting me have a better life._ "

He sucked in a breath. He had not been prepared for the level of malice that she had been harboring for the past couple of weeks. Ever since A'ilarin had told her, the little seed of hate for this man had been planted. Her tears of sorrow had watered it, and now it was beginning to bloom as fresh sunlight fell upon it. She had every right to be angry with this man. She was angry because of the experiments. She was angry because he had taken Mer so far away from her, she could not find him. She was angry because he was the reason why she ran away in the first place.

She glared at him, looking him in the eye, waiting for a response. When she received none, she turned around and walked back to her bed. "Hope you're happy to have your one successful experiment back," she said over her shoulder.

"Ash…"

"Jason, if you're going to suggest that I be nice to that man, I will hit you with a lightning bolt so hard it will make your hair stand up straight. Permanently." There was no way she was going to be nice.

Before Jason could respond back to her, the professor spoke up. "You are not the only successful experiment we have here," he said quietly.

Ash froze. There was another poor soul like her here? What possible kind of new tortures have they come up with for them? She turned and stared at the professor, eyes wide with shock. Jason was mirroring her expression.

"What do you mean 'I'm not the only one'?" she whispered.

"Exactly that. Another child bonded with a dragon and was brought here." He checked his wrist watch and turned to Jason. "Unfortunately, there is a schedule to keep. The commander has been patient enough for the past week, but it is time to start the experiments again. Today, it's your turn." He turned Jason by the shoulder and began to lead him out, a hand on his back.

"Hey! You can't just leave without explaining what you just said!" Ash yelled. What the hell had he meant? Who was he talking about?

"Ah, I but I can." And they were gone. Jason had not even put up a fight while he was being taken away.

Ash sat on the bed and stared at the entrance of the cave. She knew better than to try to follow after them. In the few times they had tried to sneak out of the place to find their dragons and escape, they had found soldiers stationed at the entrance armed with tasers. All of their attempts had resulted in being tased and knocked out.

So Ash was forced to wait for them to return and to deal with the aftermath of what they did to Jason. She was hoping that it would only be the magic extraction and nothing more.

But that did not change the fact that the waiting was the worst part.

* * *

She flew through the air and located the mountain in which she had been living for the past twelve years. She had gotten a call about new sources of magic being found and that she was to return immediately.

The girl grinned to herself and urged her dragon forward. She had been hungry for new magic for a month now. The Elder magic that they had been giving her had run dry and she could feel the magic leaking out of her. It was out of place and the magic would not adhere to her own. It was to be expected. But she had been told that this magic had not been refined yet, unmastered, practically raw.

That was the best kind of magic. She had a higher chance of being able to keep it for herself.

She licked her lips and her grin widened into a toothy smile. This was going to be a tasty meal.

* * *

 **So...a new mysterious character is in our future. This should be fun. Hehe.**

 **Anyways...I really wish that I would stop having these great ideas in the middle of the night. Cuz it makes it really hard to remember what wonderful things you came up with a few hours later when it's a normal time to be up. But, I do have to say that some of my best writing comes from late night musings.**

 **Onto reviews! :)**

 **(omg almost 25 reviews guys! I never thought I would get this much feedback ever! I'm just writing for the fun of it, but I'm glad you are enjoying my story. :D)**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: I'm hoping that this is one of the last chapters of filler. Things are going to get moving again, I promise. :)  
P.S. *sigh* Dragon povs are hard to write, but I'll do my research next time. :P**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomness** **: Is my work really that amazing? *blushes* Thank you for the compliment! :)**

* * *

 **Nikolasowa** **: I hate him too, but he's necessary! Gahh, necessary side characters can be the worst to write sometimes...**

* * *

 **Alrighty, that's all I got for now. But...**

 **To all you lurkers, yes you, the guests, the other users that casually read through a fic, yes I see you. Come on, leave a little review? I can tell some of you have been reading this story, the traffic counter gives me just a little peak, because suddenly I'll get a spike in the middle chapters where the ones surrounding it are void of views. Reviews aren't that hard, I do it too. It's just a common courtesy when reading a fic.**

 **Anywho. Sorry about that, I love all my reviewers and followers for this story, I really do, but it is nice to see some new usernames every once and awhile, yes? Hope that doesn't offend anyone who has been loyal to this story..**

 **Until next time and much love,**

 **Mogey**


	27. Chapter 27

**Alrighty. New chapter everyone, enjoy! Has anyone else noticed that this fic is over 100k words? I sorta just noticed this.. Like, holy crap, I did not realize I have written that much for this story.**

* * *

Chapter 27

Waiting was the worst. Not being able to know what was happening outside the cave was driving Ash up the wall. She was worried about Jason. It was her fault for dragging him into this mess in the first place. From the point of knowing what her magic was, finding out that she had been a lab rat, and flying out to her hometown to see the damage for herself, she had dragged him through it. It was so unfair of her! And he took it without complaint, what was she supposed to do with that? How was she supposed to feel any better about this if he was just bottling everything up and not letting anything get to him? How was she supposed to know what was hurting him?

Ash growled in frustration and sat down on the ground, in the middle of the cave. She faced the entrance and trained her eyes on soldier backs that stood guard. If she had been in better shape when she first got here, she would have been able to take out those two weaklings no problem. But she was recovering a severe concussion and her ribs were still healing. She still had no idea how she had been thrown through a wall, she did not remember anyone actually touching her besides Jason leading her by the hand. What the hell was the commander? He was the only one near them when it happened. Did he have magic too?

If only that man would come down here and take a look at them. They had been here for week and she had not seen hide nor hair of the commander since she was put in the extractor on the first day. Ash put an elbow on her knee and slumped, putting her chin into her hand. Rapping her fingers across her cheek, she contemplated a way to get more information about this place. She was not allowed outside of this cave unless she was going to be escorted somewhere for an experiment. Food had been brought to them. They had amenities to take care of bodily functions. They had beds to sleep on. All in all, they were given no reason to leave this cave. But there was no way to gather information. The soldiers that stood outside the cave refused to talk to them, and they were rotated out two times a day. She had not seen a familiar face among them since they had been here.

Ash scrunched her brows, forcing herself to think. What could she do with her power level now?

She smacked herself in the forehead. "I'm such and idiot…" she muttered.

She could meditate. Why did she not think of this before? Maybe the concussion rattled her brains more than she thought…

She sat up straight and started her breathing pattern. She really needed to thank A'ilarin for forcing her to have this habit. She slipped into a relaxed state within a minute and she was exploring with her mind the whole mountain.

Ash cringed when she found Jason and the professor. She could feel his pain. The extractor was not a kind way of gathering magic, it literally stripped a person of their magic, emptying their stores until the machine was either full or the person strapped to it ran out. She felt a pang in her chest as she forced herself to watch. Jason was doing his best not to cry out, his jaw was clenched so hard that she could see the muscles bulging. His eyes were closed, pinched together eyebrows showed his concentration. Before Ash left, she wrapped him in a comforting embrace, her presence easing some of the pain for him. She saw his eyes snap open and he looked around frantically for a second, but when he did not see her, he just nodded his head, acknowledging her.

Comforted in the fact that he knew she was there for him, she left to search the rest of the mountain. The mountain was large, having a complete tunnel system connecting everything inside of it. But as she moved toward the exterior of the mountain, she came across another dragon. It was not Mercury, or Feuer for that matter. This dragon was much larger than the both of them, probably standing a few feet taller than Feuer. Its presence was cold and Ash felt herself shiver as she brushed by it. The dragon ignored her, but Ash made a mental note to ask the professor about it when he brought Jason back.

She continued on, and felt Mercury calling out to her, she rushed to him.

Ash gasped aloud at what she saw.

The sight was gruesome. The cruelty that filled that cavern made her choke.

Blood was splattered on the floor and it dripped from his wounds. His wings were forced to stretch from wall to wall of the cavern, nailed down to the ground. There were tears in the membrane where Mer had tried to free himself, but it looked like each time he had done so, the soldiers had come in and nailed him back down again, creating a new set of wounds each time. The anger bubbled up in her chest and she felt tears gather at the corners of her eyes. Whoever did this was going to pay for hurting her dragon.

She brought herself to focus on his face. He had been muzzled and the chain leading to the ground was short, forcing him to lower his head. Combined with his wings being nailed down, he was forced to crouch on the ground. She could feel how his muscles were sore from being in the prolonged position.

 _Oh Mer, I am so sorry…_ she said to him, stroking his head.

The silver dragon opened his eyes and pinpointed where she focused herself. He groaned in pain.

 _I'll be fine, Ash. I'm glad to see that you are okay. It's been awhile,_ he said quietly.

Ash chuckled, and she felt her frustrated tears fall. _You silly lizard, of course I would be okay._

 _I'm going to worry over you regardless._

Ash continued to comfort him. She looked over at Feuer and noticed he was staring at them. The other dragon had been muzzled as well, but had been given a much longer leash compared to Mer.

She turned back to Mer. _Of course you would make trouble, why did they pin you down and not Feuer?_ She asked.

Mer huffed and smoke leaked out of the muzzle. _I was worried about you and tried fighting my way out. When you activated the bond, they got their chance to chain me down._

 _Those bastards,_ Ash muttered. _They don't have to keep you like this though._

Mercury did not respond to her.

Feuer took the chance to speak up. _How is Jason?_

 _He's alright for now,_ Ash sighed. _They took him today and it was his first time, so I don't know how he's going to feel when he comes back._

Feuer nodded and stared off into the entrance of the cave.

Ash turned back to Mer, the anger rising within her again. _Who did this to you two?_

 _The commander. He's visited every day so far. We don't know what he is planning._

Ash seethed. She was not going to let this continue. This-this cruel treatment was too much. Dragons are much more than animals, they were intelligent and noble creatures. Mer and Feuer deserved better than this.

In the distance, she heard footsteps in the tunnel leading to her own cave.

 _I have to go, but I will fix this._ She promised. _I will get all of us out of here._

 _I believe in you,_ Mer said, and she was gone.

Ash slammed back into herself. She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face just as Jason stumbled in, the professor helping him along. Ash stood up and took him from the man and led him to his own bed, laying him down, and within seconds of his head hitting the pillow Jason was asleep.

"He took the extraction surprisingly well. Much higher pain tolerance than you." The professor mused aloud.

Ash froze where she stood, shaking in anger. She took a deep breath and counted to ten, trying in vain to keep herself from smashing the professor's face in. Who cares if he was her dad?

"Ah well, it will be interesting to see how the dragons will react to magical extraction. I will have to pair you up with your dragons…"

Ash had it with this man's ramblings.

Whirling around, she punched him in the face, sending him into the wall. The spin threw off her still tentative balance and she caught herself on the bed post. Her head was tipped forward, her eyes boring into the ground and her nails digging into the bed post and her palm.

"Just shut up. Shut up about the experiments. Just shut up. Shut up!"

The professor leaned on one elbow and his other hand rubbed his jaw, remaining silent. She knew she had almost dislocated it from the way she hit him.

"You will not do anything to the dragons." Ash commanded.

Her father looked up at her. "Unfortunately, I have no choice," he said quietly.

Ash inhaled through her nose. "Have you even seen them this past week? You treat us with kindness," she gestured between her and Jason, "but you won't give them the same respect?"

Ash was shaking with rage. There was no way she was going to let anyone touch either of their dragons, not in the shape they were in.

"I have not had the chance to see them this past week," the professor said as he sat up on the floor. "But I have been told that they were in perfect condition."

"Well, you're wrong! They are chained up like animals! My dragon is practically being crucified! How is that perfect condition, huh? How? They nailed him down to the floor by his wings!"

The professor gave her a perplexed look before understand dawned on his face. He knew something, she knew it.

"I will not do anything for you until both of our dragons are being treated just as well as we have been treated. And I want to be there when they take the nails out of my dragon." She demanded.

The man stood up, his alive with anger of his own, but it was not directed at her. "I understand. Will you want medical supplies there as well?"

Taken aback by the easy win, Ash stared at him with wide eyes before she narrowed them in suspicion. "Why? Why did you give in so easily?"

The professor frowned. "It is just as you said, you won't cooperate with us until your dragons have been treated with the same respect as you have. Your refusal will delay the experiments, and forcing you to partake will change the results compared to you participating of your own will."

"This isn't of our own free will. We are being held here as prisoners and lab rats for you! How is that free will?"

"I would rather avoid transporting your unconscious body every time we need you for an experiment. Now, will you need medical supplies for your dragon after the nails have been removed?"

Ash stared at the man, sparks flickering in her eyes. He stared back at her, a look of indifference on his face. Neither of them were budging but Ash had to agree that the professor was being reasonable with her and she should atleast return the favor. She nodded stiffly and conceded.

"Good," the professor said. "I will be back to gather you as soon as I have found the culprit for this." He turned on his heel to leave.

"It was the commander," she muttered bitterly after him.

The professor paused on the entrance to look over his shoulder at her. "How are you certain?"

Ash looked him in the eye and shook her head. "You won't get my cooperation on anything until our dragons are unchained."

The professor looked at her for a moment, testing her resolve on the matter. She continued to stare him down before he finally nodded and left the cave.

Ash slumped and sat down on the foot of Jason's bed heavily, still holding onto the bedpost. Finally, she was able to start righting her wrongs. One step at a time she reminder herself, one step at a time.

"Don't worry, Mer, I'm coming for you," she whispered.

* * *

This level of fury was new to him. The professor strode through the tunnels, noting how his footsteps were quickened with anger. He had told the commander to treat the dragons with respect. He had trusted him to do so. Eric had been too focused on analyzing all the magic data he had received from his daughter's extraction. It had been fascinating to look at, occupying him all week, and distracted him from looking at the dragons.

Eric turned a corner and began to climb up the steep slope of the tunnel. He was heading straight for the cave where the dragons were being held. He wanted to see for himself the cruelties the commander had done to them, specifically the silver one. His daughter had told him that hers had received the worst treatment.

His blood ran cold with anger. It would be interesting to see what excuses the commander will come up with.

Finally, the professor walked into the cave. The smell of blood hit his nose and labored breathing his ears. It was worse than he thought.

The silver dragon was indeed pinned to the ground by his wings and his muzzle. The position look unnatural for the dragon and the pain was reflected in his dark gray eyes when they looked at him. Eric felt partially responsible for this mistreatment but there was nothing he could do about that now. His task was to remove the constraints.

His eyes caught a flash of white and an evil chuckle from behind one of the silver dragon's wings. The commander was her, along with someone else.

He gritted his teeth and walked around the wing to confront the commander. The man was standing there, gloating over the work he created. The ends of the silver dragon's wings were now ragged and would be forever scarred.

"This one put up quite the fight for a time. So when he knocked himself out we took the opportunity to teach him a lesson." The commander was saying to someone standing off to the left of him, away from Eric.

"I see, have you been resetting the nails on purpose then?" A light voice asked. Ah, so she was here. She would have returned immediately once the news had reached her.

Before the commander had the time to respond, Eric cleared his throat, frowning at the two of them. The commander looked over, a cocky grin on his face. The girl standing next to him, leaned around his frame, her white hair slipping over her shoulder from its ponytail.

"Do you mind explaining to me why this dragon is in such deplorable condition, Commander?" Eric asked, biting out every word. His experiments were going to be delayed yet again by this man.

"Oh, Professor, it's good to see you! The commander here was just telling me how they managed to control this unruly dragon." The girl smiled.

He ignored her and continued to glare at the commander. "Well?"

The commander shrugged, "It's as the girl says, the dragon was being unruly and we had to subdue it."

"And that equates to having it pinned repeatedly to the ground?"

"We couldn't simply let it continue about its business unhindered!" the commander shot back, "It would have clawed us apart, burned us alive, or eaten us. Which would have preferred?"

"You being burned alive." The professor said simply. "Thanks to you once again, the experiments are delayed. This dragon was scheduled to go through magic extraction with his Rider tomorrow."

The commander rolled his eyes. "This beast will be fine. Just let it rip its wings out and we won't replace 'em."

Eric gritted his teeth. Why does this man refuse to listen to him? He does not run this lab. "It does not work like that. The magic extraction process requires the Rider and the dragon to be fairly healthy in order for it to work. Since this dragon has been nailed to the ground for a week now, he is not in fit condition to undergo that process."

"Professor, if I may?" The girl said, stepping between the commander and the professor.

"What is it?"

"Why don't you use the other dragon here? Surely his Rider will make a good enough substitute for the experiment for the time being?"

Eric sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, resisting the urge to snap at the girl. She did not know about the schedule. "No, they cannot. That one's Rider just went through the extraction process for observation. He will not have recovered his magic in time for this new experiment."

The girl blinked, her lilac eyes catching the light as she tilted her head, pony tail swaying. "So why does it matter that this dragon is unable to? He should be perfectly fine once the nails are removed." She said innocently.

"That is not how it works. Can you not hear this dragon's breathing? Do you see the way he has been forced to lay on the ground? Any longer, there is a good chance he will be permanently lamed and no longer useful to us at all."

The girl nodded and smiled. "I understand, Professor."

"I'm going to go get a doctor and his Rider before we remove the nails." The professor turned around and started the walk away, the commander and the girl following.

"Why can't we just let it rip them out like it has every time we have had to replace the nails? Surely once more is not going to change much is it?" The commander asked, peeved at the thought of ending his fun.

Eric did not bother to look back at the man. "You have done enough damage, Commander."

The commander _tsked_ but followed along anyways.

The girl walked beside the professor, hands clasped behind her back. "Professor, will I be able to meet this Rider? I'm quite curious to meet her."

"Now is not the time, Katja. Why don't you go and spend time with Lilli? I'll come get you once everything is ready for the afternoon."

"Of course, Professor!" She smiled.

* * *

 **Hey hey, we got names to go with our wonderful new characters. How bout it?**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: Am I still keeping you curious? Haha, the Professor is quite the character, its always interesting to write from his point of view. I know I've said that before. Can you blame me though?**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: I could hug you. Thank you for the encouragement!**

* * *

 **So. Personal life time. I have one more exam this week (accounting..ew..) and I'm going home for spring break right afterwards (yay!) so I don't know when the next chapter will be up. I'm hoping for this next Friday (3/11). My family's wifi sucks so it is quite possible you won't hear from me for about a week. I don't know. I'm hoping for the best.**

* * *

 **Also, PSA, I have been seeing a lot of this happening to some of my favorite users on , people are stealing their writings and posting them to Wattspad or Ao3. Here's what I have to say about it: Don't do it. Don't you fricking do it! It's cruel, it's mean, and there's no reason for it. Authors pour an unnecessary amount of work in these stories, all for free I might add. These stories are our personal works and we are doing it for your benefit, the readers, out of our own free will. Most of us aren't English Majors in/out of college, I'm certainly not. But to steal someone's work is downright deplorable. There's no benefit from doing it. You're going to get harassed until you take it down, you'll lose your account on whatever platform you're using. It's really not worth it. So why do it?**

 **So please, please, _please_ , don't do this. Don't be the rude mother f*cker that authors have to hunt down to find their work and get it back.**

 **Ok, I'm done ranting. I'll see y'all next chapter.**

 **Mogey**


	28. Chapter 28

**Ooh boy. This was a roller coaster of a chapter. Almost 4100 words before ANs and such, it's the longest chap in awhile. Hope it's up to snuff. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 28

It had nearly been an hour since the professor had left the two of them in the cave. Jason was just beginning to stir and Ash was still sitting on the foot of his bed, leaning on her knees as she stared twin holes into the ground. It was when she heard him grunt and sit himself up on the bed that she finally moved. She sat up straight and looked at him over her shoulder.

He looked fine, physically, but she could tell that he was exhausted. They more than likely drew out more of his magic than they had her only because if they had continued with her, she would have more than likely died of shock. He had a hand pressed to the side of his head and his face was scrunched up in pain.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly. He would be sensitive to sounds for a while until his magic stabilized from being ripped out of him.

He blinked at her, his orange eyes glowing vividly. "I'll be alright…I think."

She gave him a small smile and turned towards the entrance of the cave. She felt her anger rise within her as she thought about what she was going to face soon. She was going to see Mer's wounds first hand and she hoped that she would be able to accelerate his healing correctly. A'ilarin had mentioned that she would be able to aid her dragon in times of need, much like she had when Jason had accidentally trapped them. Gods, that felt like forever ago. Ash clenched her firsts, her nails digging into her palms.

"Hey, Ash? Is everything alright?" Jason asked. She felt the bed dip as he swung his legs over the edge to sit next to her.

She relaxed her hands, but continued to stare at the entrance. She shook her head slowly. "No…nothing is alright. Everything is wrong. It's all my fault. But I'm going to fix this," she muttered. She was going to fix this.

Jason put a hand on her shoulder. "Ash…"

She turned to glare at him. "You understand, don't you? This is my fault."

"So? There wasn't much we could do about it."

She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. "Then you don't get it. I knew what we were getting into and I ignored all the warning signs. They were there. My town was too quiet but I ignored it. Now look where we are. We're lab rats, test subjects. I'm going to get us out of here. I don't care what it takes, but I'm not going to let you go through this. I'm not going through this again." She wiped her eyes, she was not going to cry until they were out of here.

Jason pulled her into a hug that she stiffly accepted. She was too wound up to accept and displays of affection, but she let him do it anyways. It was probably his way of coping, like hers was lashing out at everything.

"Okay, I see your point. But that doesn't mean you can go off on your own to get me out of here. You're getting out too," he said into her hair. In the week that they had been there, it had turned into a rat's nest, and she kept it up most of the time.

"There's something else bothering you, isn't there?"

Ash sighed heavily. "Yeah. They've been torturing Mer and I'm going to go free him."

Jason stiffened. "What about Feuer? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's behaved himself for the most part." Jason breathed a sigh of relief at her words.

Jason released her from the hug when they heard multiple footsteps hurriedly coming towards their cave. Ash stood up and face the entrance. Soon enough the professor and the nurse Carla came into the cave.

"Are you ready for this?" the professor asked her.

She smirked, was he really asking that? "What are we waiting for?"

They moved to leave the cave, but Jason grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"I'm coming to." His eyes had dimmed but they glowed with determination now.

"You can't, you've barely woken up and you want to go do this?" she asked as she tugged at his hand.

Jason refused to let go, taking steps so that he was shoulder to shoulder with her, facing the professor. "Wherever she goes, I'm going too." He said to the man.

"You can't! This is crazy! You need to rest!" Ash objected loudly.

The professor looked between the two of them, appearing indifferent on the matter. "I don't care who comes with and who doesn't. We cannot stand here and deliberate it. Make up your minds."

Ash fumed, shooting the man a glare before turning back to Jason. Did he not care about his 'test subjects' overexerting themselves?

"You can't do this, Jase," she whispered heatedly. "You're barely standing as it is."

It was true, he was weaving back and forth like a leaf in a breeze. Yet he still shook his and stared her down. "I'm going with."

Ash rolled her eye and ran a hand down her face, the other was still occupied by Jason's. "I can take care of this! You need to trust me."

Jason suddenly grew very hot and with a hiss of pain she wrenched her hand out of his before he could burn her. "This is not about trusting you, Ash. I will see to my dragon myself. He is my responsibility."

"That's not the point!"

Jason smiled down at her, was she missing something? Why was he smiling?

"You don't have to do everything yourself. It's what friends are for. We help each other out remember?" he said softly.

Ash's eyes widened before she narrowed them at him quickly. "And that's what I'm trying to do! But you won't let me help you out. I've got this. I promise to take care of Feuer."

"This is all very touching, but we really must be going." The professor said, looking irritated that they were wasting more of his time.

Ash sneered at him. "Patience, old man."

"No, I agree with him, let's go." Jason grabbed her hand again and followed the professor out.

Ash grit her teeth, snatched her hand from Jason, but continued to follow all of them as they made their way through all of the tunnels. She did not appreciate Jason going over her head like that. But was she not doing the same thing by trying to keep him from seeing what he was about to? He was just beginning to get over the trauma of losing Garrett and Nova, was he ready to see the horrid conditions their dragons were in?

Ash was at the back of their group, pouting and trying to steel herself for what she was about to do. She only needed to give Mer's own magic a jump start and he would be able to heal himself. She hoped.

They turned a corner and she heard a muffled roar of pain.

Shit.

Ash took off running, shoving everyone out of her way and ran towards the sound. Jason yelled after her, but she ignored him. The smell of blood led her through the remaining turns and before she knew it, she was barreling into the cave and witnessed something terrible.

She watched in horror as the commander ripped one of the nails out of Mer's wings, causing as much damage as he possibly could.

He saw her come into the room and smirked at her, holding the nail triumphantly.

"Come to watch the show, little girl?" He taunted.

Ash felt her magic stir and the lighting that hung from the ceiling popped and the cave was engulfed in black. Her eyesight was unaffected and she saw the commander flail around as he tried to gain his bearings in the sudden dark.

She flew at him, her broken ribs be damned. She slammed into him, knocking the breath out of him and cause him to drop the bloody nail he had in his hand. She pinned him to the ground, her hands at his neck and her legs straddled his chest, knees holding down his arms.

"You bastard! Do you know what you've done to him?" she growled at him, baring her teeth.

The commander struggled underneath of her, his face turning red then blue as his body ran out of air. Somehow he got purchase on her pants and pulled at the waistband, ripping her off of him. She left deep scratches on his neck as he did so, drawing blood and leaving skin underneath her nails.

He coughed as he bruised trachea cleared itself. He was never given a chance to fully regain his breath before Ash was upon him once more. She took the man by his collar and started to slam his head against the floor. How dare he do this to Mercury? How dare he? What have they done to him to warrant this kind of treatment?

After the sixth or seventh slam, the commander was knocked out cold, his eyes rolling back in his head. Ash heard footsteps run into the cave and Jason's shocked yell when he saw what had happened. His eyes allowed him to see just as well as her and she heard the professor and the nurse ask him what had happened.

Ash was still sitting on the commander's chest, panting. He would not be getting up anytime soon but she could not move. She sat there trembling as the rage and the adrenaline faded from her body. She had not killed him, had she? She heard Jason make his way over to her. She just sat there and stared down at the commander, horrified with what she had done. He was not dead. He could not be dead. She did not want to be a murderer. She could not be. She refused to let herself stoop as low as the Governments that had imprisoned her and Jason.

She jerked away from Jason when he laid a hand on her shoulder, slipping off of the commander.

"Ash, what happened?" he asked. His eyes were still glowing. Why?

"He-he…he was h-hurting…wings-Mer…I-I-I-" she could not even form a full sentence.

Ash turned to Mer. Only two of the twenty some odd nails had been removed before she had raced in to the cave. Blood was spilling onto the floor and she was vaguely aware of Jason asking her questions about what happened and the professor sending the nurse off to find lanterns to light the cave.

Mer was wheezing in pain, the ends of his wings looked like they were ribbons. Ash could feel the pain in the air surrounding him even without the bond.

She slowly stood up and made her way to his head. He opened one eye to look at her. She heard Jason follow after her. Should he not be worrying about Feuer? He was standing in a corner watching all of them. He was still chained up. Why was Jason with her and not him?

 _Ash, I'm going to be okay, take a deep breath,_ Mer commanded. She could feel him pull at the bond on his end, forcing her to focus on him. When had she not been looking at him? When had she looked away?

 _But, but he was torturing you. I-I had to do something…_ she blubbered to him.

Mer blinked, understanding. _I know. I'm okay though._

 _No you're not._ She lurched forward and wrapped her arms around his neck as far as she could, burying her face in his scales. _You're not okay. How can you be okay when your wings look like that?_

"Ash, he can still fly. He just needs to heal up first," Jason said from behind her.

Suddenly the cave was lit up and light. The professor walked past them and knelt next to the commander. He put two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. He seemed to deflate when he found one. "He's still alive," he announced.

Ash sagged with relief against Mer, even though she despised the commander, she did not wish for him to die. Was she being too naïve?

Jason patted her on the shoulder and turned to the professor. "Our dragons need to be released. Now."

The professor nodded. "We are working on it. The commander does not have the keys to the chains and muzzles, so I have sent Carla to fetch them." As soon as he said this, Carla walked in, the keys glinted in her hand.

She walked up and gave them to the professor who walked to Mercury's head and began to release him from his chains. Once the muzzle fell away, Mer stretched his jaw, showing off his sharp teeth. Ash clung to him tighter.

Next she heard more chains falling to the floor and a short roar from Feuer across the cave. Jason gave her shoulder a final squeeze before leaving her to tend to his own dragon.

 _Ash, you need to let go._

She shook her head, rubbing her nose raw slightly on Mercury's scales.

 _Ash, please, I've been in this position for too long._

Reluctantly, Ash let go and stepped away from him. She watched as he raised his head as far as he could, turning to either side as he looked at his torn wings. Ash flinched and walked around his wings. The nails were still in them. She forgot that she came here to remove them.

"This is gonna hurt…you ready?" she asked Mer as placed a hand on his wing and the other grasped the nail.

 _Just do it._

She quickly pulled the nail out, careful to keep from ripping any more of his wings. Mer groaned and spat out a fireball as he fought the pain. And there were still almost twenty more of these to go. Suddenly Jason was by her side as she reached for the next nail. He stood at another one. Ash stared at him, wondering what he was doing.

"Come on, we need to get these out of him. It'll go faster if I help," he explained.

Ash nodded and tightened her grip on the nail. "On three then."

"One…two…three!"

They ripped the two nails out and they felt Mer shudder. They quickly made their way to next pair of nails. Ripping out the nails as fast as they could, they made short work of the nails that had been holding him down. Once they were all out, Mer brought his wings in close, pinning them against his body as he panted, finally free from being crouched to the ground. The professor had left the chains around their legs in place, but Ash was not really caring about that. Her dragon was free from his unlawful crucifixion and she was glad that the damage had been minimalized for the most part.

Behind her, she heard a moan of pain, and she turned to find the commander sitting up, a dazed look on his face.

Ash bristled in preparation to knock the man out again, but she found Jason's hand on her shoulder, holding her back. When had she been walking towards him? Ash looked back at him, pained. What was she supposed to do? Jason simply shook his head and held her still.

She turned back to the commander. He was beginning to stand up. He was a little wobbly from the pounding his head had received but when his eyes found her, they turned murderous and he lunged for her.

"You bitch! You'll pay-!"

He was cut off as Jason rushed passed her and knocked the commander back with an elbow to the chest. He fell into his fighting stance as he waited for the commander to regain his footing. Soon enough the large man was charging at Jason, and once again he was knocked back after a few punches to the face.

Ash looked around to see if the professor was going to stop him, but he was standing near the entrance to the cave, watching them, a heated gleam in his eyes. Was he enjoying this?

Both of the dragons snarled as the commander yelled and was finally able to push Jason back, but not off of his feet. Ash could only watch as Jason fought on her behalf. He punched the commander in the kidneys and the diaphragm in quick succession, causing pain and knocking the wind out of him. The man doubled over instinctively, protecting his sides, but his face was met with Jason's knee and he reared back, blood streaming from his now broken nose.

Ash watched Jason closely. His face was cold with fury and his eyes were lit, glowing orange. She could not believe that this was the quiet boy she had gotten to know. He looked ready to kill the commander.

The commander caught his eye, and he flinched away from Jason's gaze, the bright color unnerved him as much if not more than it did her when she first saw them. Jason took advantage of this and backed the man against the wall, pinning him by the throat with his forearm. His teeth were bared and he looked like he was ready to tear the man apart.

Ash heard footsteps and a blur of white rushed passed her, knocking Jason away. A girl appeared in front of the commander as he leaned over to cough yet again. Her white hair was gathered up into a ponytail and her purple eyes glared between the two of them.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, her voice deceptively light considering the situation.

Ash opened her mouth to answer, but the professor beat her to it. "Some retaliation for the mistreatment of property. Nothing to concern yourself with," he said nonchalantly, waving his hand. It appeared that his amusement was over.

Ash glared at the girl. Who was she?

"Then who started this, Professor?" She remained where she was in front of the commander. He had finally stopped coughing.

"The commander did, but his first beating was given to him by the girl, if you must really know."

Ash grit her teeth and met the girl's eyes. Now that a possible new threat had presented itself, the adrenaline had calmed her nerves and she was ready to fight if she had to. Mer rustled his tattered wings behind her. She was going to protect him no matter what happened to her.

The girl's eyes narrowed. "So you started this?" she accused.

Ash bared her teeth in a sneer. "I was finishing it."

In a flash, the girl had her by the throat and pinned her to the wall. "You will pay for what you did to the commander," she said. Ash could feel the cold seeping from her fingers and into her skin, causing her to shiver involuntarily. It was the same cold that she felt from that other dragon from before.

Ash clawed at her hand, struggling to relieve some of the pressure on her windpipe. Off to the side she saw Jason sit up from being thrown to the ground and when he saw Ash against the wall and the girl pinning her there, his eyes widened and gasped.

"Kat?"

The girl whipped her head around to him, loosening her grip on Ash's throat. It gave her enough to finally break free from the white haired girl's grip and receive some much need air. Ash kicked the girl away before she allowed herself to cough, forcing her throat to work. It knocked some sense into the other girl and she started to lay into Ash once more.

Ash was able to dodge most of the punches, a few of them hit her here and there, but she went for the most part unscathed. She threw back a few hits of her own, forcing the girl back and away from possibly pinning her to the wall again. Jason suddenly stepped in between them, catching both of their fists.

Ash's eyes widened in shock when she saw his face. He looked torn. Torn between what though? He gave her a pleading look, silently asking her not to fight anymore. She narrowed her eyes at him. What was he getting at? If she backed down, that girl was going to go after again. But before she could ask him anything, he turned to the girl. Her light purple eyes widened in shock as recognition reflected on her face. They knew each other.

"Katja, I think that is enough." The professor said after the three of them had been standing there, staring at each other for a moment.

"Katja, stand down." The commander croaked from against the wall. He was holding his nose that was still streaming blood.

As if a switch had been flipped, the girl, Katja, backed off and stood by the commander. She stood in a soldier's at ease position.

Jason lowered his hands at the same time Ash did, but he still looked dreadfully confused about why that girl was here. Ash was just as confused but for a different reason. She had no idea who this girl was, besides her name, nor did she want to know anything else. But who was she to Jason?

The professor made his way in between them, facing the commander and the girl. "Commander, I think it would be prudent if you went with Carla to get you nose looked at. I will take care of the Riders and their dragons."

The commander nodded and walked passed them, signaling to the girl to follow. She followed without a backwards glance at them and soon enough they both left the cave.

"Ashley, I would suggest doing whatever you were planning to do to you dragon now. It would be unfortunate if he were to be lamed."

Ash flinched at the professor saying her name and opened her mouth to ask him how he knew, but shut it quickly when she remembered that he was her father. How could she forget that this was the man who experimented on her when she was just a baby? She turned to Mer and walked towards him.

 _Lower your head,_ she commanded. She had already wasted enough time fighting with the commander and the girl once the nails had been pulled.

Mer lowered his head, and she pressed her forehead to his nose, closing her eyes. She focused on herself and him, forgetting about what just happened and how Jason knew the girl. She relaxed and reached into Mer's mind, finding his center. It was light blue, with white swirls through it. She was reminded of a summer's day when she looked at it. It lay dormant for the most part, occasionally swirling about. Ash reached forward and nudged it into action, directing it towards Mercury's wings. Ash let it take over, and soon Mer's healing process was sped up by his magic. A'ilarin had told them that a dragon's magic sometimes needed a jump start when it came to healing themselves, for their magic was mostly used to amplify their Rider's magic. A little direction was all it took really. It was not enough to simply repair them, his wings would be forever scarred like Nyetia's, but he would be able to use them. That was all that mattered. If a dragon could not fly, could he really call himself a dragon?

Ash opened her eyes when Mercury sighed with relief and nuzzled her. _Thank you._

Ash smiled at her silver dragon, but it quickly disappeared when she remembered where she was. She had almost forgotten that they were not back at home in the forest valley. Looking at Mer, she noted that his scales were bruised around his face from how tight the muzzle had been for the past week. She assumed Feuer's scales would be in the same condition as well.

Finished with what she came here to do, she turned and her stormy eyes found Jason's fiery ones. He still looked like he was in shock and was wavering dangerously on his feet. She sighed and made her way over to him. Slinging an arm around her shoulders, she caught the professor's eye and soon they were leaving the cave.

Jason would just have to explain himself when they got back to their own cave.

* * *

 **So, do you guys hate me yet? I bet you really wanna know who Katja is and why Jason knows her. Hehe, well you're just gonna have to wait till next chapter find out now won't you?**

 **And, boy did the reviews and pm's from last chapter make my day. You were certainly displeased with Eric weren't you. Hah. He's going to stay like that, no matter how much you ask me to make him more father like. He's perfect that way he is. (This crazy writer needs to go to bed if she really thinks the professor is perfect...)**

 **On to reviews!**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: *casually waves* Helloo, crazy author alert. The love is real I swear! I mean it. Haha, the commander and the professor are slowly becoming my favorite characters to write. What's that say about my sanity? Hmm, nothing good I suppose.**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: I'm glad you love it, I love it too!**

* * *

 **Gosh, I should really go to bed at a decent time. I have interview later today for a summer job. What am I still doing up? Oh yeah, laughing manically at my latest chapter cuz I whipped this up in what? 3 hours? I'm impressed with myself.**

 **Well, I'm off to bed. Let me know what you think in a review! I respond to all in the next chapter after it. :)**

 **Until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	29. Chapter 29

**Thank you for waiting patiently to find out who our little mystery girl is. She's been a stubborn character to create, to be honest. I hope you like her. I worked hard on her.**

* * *

Chapter 29

The commander walked behind the nurse as they made their way through the tunnels. His hand was still holding his broken nose and the scratches on his neck were still bleeding as well, staining his collar. Katja followed behind him at a respectable distance, just as she had been taught. She was only slightly concerned for the commander's health because she knew that he would recover on his own within the next couple of days. The scratches on his neck from that girl would need treatment and stitches.

Katja furrowed her brow. Who was that girl and why had she attacked the commander in such a vicious manner? Why was the boy fighting him as well? Many questions were floating around in her head, but she would not voice them until the commander was treated. Her questions could wait, his treatment could not comparatively.

Eventually they reached the lab, and the nurse led them to her station in the corner. She told the commander to sit on the bed and wait while she gathered everything she needed. Katja watched from a discreet distance. The commander deserved his privacy, he was a higher ranking official than her after all.

The girl watched the nurse carefully, looking for any sign of mistreatment to the commander. The man hissed when the nurse reset his nose, and a new wave of blood spewed from it. The nurse gave him another gauze pad and tilted his chin up so she could get a better look at the three scratches the other girl had left.

"They appear to be superficial, so they shouldn't need any stitches," the nurse mused quietly. So she was wrong about the stitches, that was good to hear. Katja only heard her because of her enhanced hearing.

The nurse applied some antiseptic to the scratches and the commander gritted his teeth. Once she was done, the nurse applied a large piece of gauze to his neck, taping it down with medical tape. She packed away all of her items and wished the commander a good day before she left the lab with her cart. No doubt going to check on the other two Riders that were being held here.

Katja took this as her cue to be able to talk to the commander. She walked up to him, but stopped a respectful distance away near the foot of the bed.

"Commander?" she asked. The man was sitting on the bed scowling at the wall, still holding the gauze to his nose.

"What?"

"May I speak freely?"

He gave her a curt nod and turned to look at her.

Katja took a deep breath and formulated her question in her head before she spoke. "Why was that girl and boy attacking you?"

The commander frowned. "Why does that concern you?"

"It doesn't, sir, I was merely curious about the situation I walked into." She hoped she had not upset him with her question.

"I see," was all he said. He did not answer her question.

She stood there in silence, waiting for the man that raised her to give her an answer that was not going to come. She refused to let her shift around uncomfortably while waiting, standing at an at ease position.

Eventually the commander spoke again. "I was simply removing the restraints placed on the dragon I showed you earlier. That _girl_ misunderstood what I was doing and attacked me. Then the boy." His voice was distorted by the gauze plugging his nose.

"I see, sir. So they were the ones who instigated the assault?"

He nodded stiffly.

Katja now had a clear picture in her mind about what had happened in the cave. She had felt the girl's mind crawling around the mountain just before all of this had had happened. Lilli had confirmed her presence as well. The girl was reckless and head strong, a terrible quality to have as a soldier. So there was a fairly low chance that the girl and the boy were soldiers like her. So then why were they here?

"Sir, may I ask another question?"

"You may."

"Why are those two Riders here, sir? They are not soldiers like myself as I originally thought they were when I learned of their presence here in the mountain. But if that's that case, why are they here? I thought all experiments had been put on hold."

The commander smirked. "They're the reason why the experiments have begun again and why you have been called back here from the other lab."

Katja tightened her grip on her wrist behind her back. What was he getting at? The professor had said the experiments were complete, what else was there to find out?

"May I ask one more question, sir, before I take my leave?"

The commander gave her a curious but nodded anyways. "What is it?"

"The professor had told me that the experiments were complete, and that I would not be needed for them anymore. So why have I been called back for new experiments? Do you know my role in these new procedures?"

"That will have to be taken up with the professor, Kat."

Katja nodded and saluted, accepting his answer. She needed to find the professor anyways. He had promised her a new installment of magic and she was eager for the new power. Katja turned on her heel, leaving the commander in the nurse's corner to nurse his wounds on his own.

She made her way through the tunnels. She was aware that the commander was withholding information from her, but she expected it was for good reason. The professor did the same thing, she just accepted it as she simply was not allowed to know about whatever they were hiding from her. If she was supposed to know, she would know. Simple as that.

 _Lilli, is the professor with the other two?_ Katja asked her dragon for confirmation about the professor's whereabouts.

 _Yes,_ came the quick reply. Lilli was always prompt like that.

It was expected that he would be there as well.

Katja walked at a brisk pace, passing the nurse on the way down. She was done with her duties and was going back to check on the commander.

The soldier heard yelling echoing about the tunnels, but its direction was clear. Katja did not change her pace, the content of the conversation did not spike her curiosity, so felt no need to rush in.

The other girl was being the loudest, followed by the professor. Odd. He never raised his voice at anyone. This girl must be exceptionally annoying in order to elicit such emotion from the professor.

"-ing care about what he was doing! I want to know if he's going to be dealt with for what he did!" She was yelling when Katja walked into the cave the two were assigned.

It was bigger than one she was given when she was here for tests. As expected, there were two of them compared to her one.

The professor and the girl were standing almost nose to nose, staring angrily at each other.

"And I told you, that he will be. He delayed the experiment schedule for who knows how long!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Forget about the damn experiments for once! Do you think I care about that? The commander should be dead for what he did to my dragon!" the girl snarled.

Katja almost rolled her eyes at the heated exchange between the two persons. She glanced around the room and found the boy sitting on one of the beds, one hand clasped over the closest ear to the argument while he stared absently across the cave.

"Why can't you just behave and accept that I will take care of things?" the professor demanded. None of them had yet to notice Katja standing the in entrance of the cave.

The girl reared back, a crazed smile on her face. "Oh? Let you take care of things? Like the way you basically let me escape twelve years ago? I'd say that's taking care of things. Hah, are you kidding me?" she laughed in his face, taking a step back. "I can't believe you're actually asking me to trust you, oh-hahaha-pfft, please? Do you think after all that you have done that I would actually trust you, of all people?"

The professor moved to slap her, but she caught his hand with ease, holding it in a firm grip.

"I believe you lost the right to discipline me a long time ago, _dad_ ," she hissed.

Katja moved in between them before the girl could punch him back. There was already an ugly bruise spreading across the professor's jaw, no need to create another one.

"Professor, shall I punish her for laying a hand on you?" she asked.

The girl scoffed and ripped her hand out of her grip. "No need. I'm done talking to him anyways." She turned on her heal and stomped away like a toddler.

The professor was breathing heavily from his argument but he composed himself before the girl could make another remark. "Stand down, Katja, there's no need for her to be punished. She has a right to be angry."

Katja tilted her head, giving the professor a confused look. She was allowed to show more emotion around this man versus the commander. "I don't understand. Shouldn't she be the one punished for assaulting the commander? He was only trying to help."

Before the professor could respond the girl was in her face, standing on her tiptoes to get into her face. "Listen here, army brat, you don't know the whole story. And before you ask anything, it _was_ the commander who nailed my dragon to the ground. He deserved every hit he got." Her breath stank.

Katja wrinkled her nose and took a step back. "I highly doubt that. The commander told me himself that he was only trying to free your dragon after its condition was brought to his attention."

The girl bared her teeth and snarled. "Bullshit. The commander order the soldiers to do that. And when I got there, he was making a bigger mess of things by removing the nails wrong!"

"Are you positive about that? You may have been blinded by emotion for you dragon in order to see all of the facts. This all could have been avoided if you had controlled your dragon in the first place," Katja reasoned coolly. She was not going to let this short tempered girl get a reaction out of her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The girl clenched her firsts, Katja could smell the blood from the small cuts she created with her nails. "You weren't even here! How could you-"

"Ash, shut up."

The girl whirled around, wobbling slightly as she looked at her companion on the bed. He had lowered his hand from his ear and was looking at the three of them. Katja glanced at the professor and noted that he seemed used to this sort of reaction from the girl.

"Don't you dare take their side!"

"I'm not, but the arguing can stop," he said, and she pulled up short from what she was going to say next.

Her mouth opened and shut, gaping like a fish as he stood up and walked over to the three of them. His eyes glowed orange, but the shape of them were familiar. Who was this boy? And the girl for that matter?

The boy stared right at her, meeting her eye and holding it with his glowing gaze.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Straight to the point it seems. Katja did not know how to answer. She was a soldier, a successful test subject. Was she not supposed to be here?

"I don't understand your question," she said curtly, hiding the turmoil in her mind. She was not supposed to be questioning anything this much, it was not in her nature to question. She was told her tasks and she performed her duties. What was it about these two that made her ask questions about everything?

The professor took charge, laying a hand on her shoulder. "This is 34-107K, or Katja. She is the first successful experiment after Ashley here."

The girl, Ash, sneered again, but refrained from saying anything. So she did know how to hold her tongue. She gave the professor scathing glare before she turned to go sit down on the bed the boy had just vacated. Boundaries did not exists with her either, Katja noted.

The boy's eyes never left hers. "I already knew her name, but thanks for the refresher. Still doesn't answer my question."

"Jason, who is she to you anyways?" the other girl said flippantly. "Does it really matter? She's with them now."

Katja bristled unknowingly. Who was she to act like the Governments were in the wrong here? It was the Riders of Old fault for not cooperating with them from the beginning.

Jason sighed, his shoulder slumping, guilt played across his face. Why was he guilty?

"You could say she's an old friend."

* * *

 **Can you blame me for being kinda predictable here? There's only so many sharp turns you can take before you simply reach a simple bend in the road. Such is the plot here.**

 **So what do you think of Katja? I know she seems a little naive and too trustworthy, but keep in mind, she has no idea what happened between Ash, Jason, and the commander.**

 **And on to reviews!**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: Puns are a sure fire way to being my favorite. I count 3-5 depending on how you interpret them. Thank you for making my day!**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: Hey, you were close! How bout that? Glad you're still loving the story.**

* * *

 **Welp, I had a job interview this week. That went well, hope to hear back from them on Friday and hopefully I'll have a job for the summer. Yay!**

 **You know, I should really make an update schedule for this thing. It's turning into a monster fic. Almost 120k words people! Like holy cow. These irregular updates are killing the organizational nerd inside of me. Why do I do this? The muse of inspiration can go take a seat every once and awhile, let me get sleep please!**

 **Well, stayed tuned for the next chapter, whenever that is. I have no idea where we are going from here, but I trust something I come up with will make sense.**

 **Until next time,**

 **A very sleepy Mogey**


	30. Chapter 30

**I'm so sorry for the really long wait compared to how I normally update! This chapter took a lot to write even though it's kinda short. Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 30

The boy stood there and stared at her. Katja did not know what to think in regards to what the boy had just said. Old friend? What was he talking about?

She looked to the professor for guidance, but found none. He looked just as perplexed as she felt. The girl on the bed stiffened and was giving the boy a narrowed eyed stare. Apparently this was news to her too. What was going on?

"I'm sorry, but I believe you have me mistaken for another." She said, taking a step back from the boy, quite uncomfortable with the way he continued to stare her down. His fiery gaze felt like he was seeing through all of her.

"I don't believe I am. Sure your eyes are a different color now, but that doesn't really make you a different person, Kat," he responded. He did not follow her in her retreat to the professor's side.

"Jason?" the girl asked from the bed. Her stormy gaze was locked onto the back of his head.

Katja continued to retreat away from the boy. The soldier in her screaming at her to stand and face this, but the citizen in her was telling her that this was a situation to get out of. Both sides were battling it out for dominance in her mind but there was one prevailing thought: the boy was crazy, driven to this insanity from being stuck in this mountain for a week straight. She ducked around the professor's shoulder and looked out at him, her hair swinging over her shoulder from her ponytail. She grabbed the professor's hand to ground herself from her growing hysteria.

"How do you know Katja?" the professor asked. He squeezed her hand in reassurance.

The boy took a deep breath, closing his eyes and finally releasing her from him gaze. He looked over at one of the walls and slowly exhaled, before turning his gaze back to the professor.

"Sorry, I guess I should explain myself a little bit, huh?" he said with a half-hearted chuckle. Katja thought he looked like he was going to break down into insane laughter.

The boy gave the professor a small smile as he scratched the back of his head, his other hand burying itself deep in the front pocket of his threadbare jeans.

Everyone was waiting for him to start, the girl was shifting around on the bed impatiently and the professor and Katja stood still, not knowing what to expect from him.

"Kat and I grew up in the same orphanage together. She was there when I got there and when I left."

It was not the most detailed explanation but it looked like it was the only one he was going to give. As Katja watched, she saw the boy close up, his mouth drawing a firm line and his eyes suddenly became guarded, like he was afraid of the repercussions from his words.

Katja tugged on the professor's sleeve, gaining his attention. "He's wrong. I do not remember growing up in an orphanage. I only know this place and the mountains…"

The professor nodded and patted her hand comfortingly. Katja heard the girl scoff and she looked over to find her giving the professor a death glare. Why was this girl so angry at the professor? And why was this boy saying that he knew her in a past she did not have?

Katja felt tears of confusion prick her eyes, and it forced her to blink rapidly to dispel the tears. She hid behind the professor to hide the sudden display of emotions. She knew the professor did not particularly care if she showed any emotion but the commander would be more than disappointed in her for doing so. He trained her better than this and if she allowed herself to slip up here then she could possibly do so in front of the commander, which would result in a severe punishment for her or Lilli. It depended on what would give him the most satisfaction that day.

She felt herself shaking. So many emotions and thoughts were clouding her mind and she could not think straight. She needed to leave.

Letting go of the professor's hand, she walked out of the cave, not bothering to ask the professor for a dismissal or to hear the rest of the boy's story.

* * *

Jason watched Katja almost run out of the cave. She was somehow able to maintain some of her dignity by refraining from actually running out, but he could tell that she was spooked by what he had just said.

He was not going to change his answer. What he had said had been true. He had grown up with her for a few years before Garrett came and adopted him.

Turning his gaze back to the professor, he waited for him to go after her, but the professor stood there staring at him.

After a moments of awkward silence, the professor finally asked, "You're originally from the Spine?"

Jason narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, what of it?"

"Nothing, just curious how to very powerful magic users ended up in the same place at the same time." He said nonchalantly, and with that he turned on his heel and followed after Katja.

Ash had yet to say anything about this, and he was almost afraid to turn around and face her.

But what was he supposed to tell her? That one of his childhood friends was their enemy now? How could he possibly do that?

Oh…wait. He just did.

Well, he did not sense any evil presence behind him so he it was possible that she was taking this quite well considering the situation they were in. He slowly looked over his shoulder and saw her simply staring at the wall across from her. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and she had her chin resting on top of them, her arms wrapped around them.

She looked lost.

"Hey, Ash? You okay?" he asked, walking over to sit next to her. There was no reason to be standing in the middle of the cave like an idiot with the professor gone.

"Huh?" She looked over at him as he made himself comfortable.

"You alright? You spaced out for a while there."

She shrugged. "Yeah, as fine as I can be."

Jason hummed in agreement. They were both doing the best they could at this point. After being captured and brought here, and finding their dragons in such deplorable condition, especially Mercury, he was surprised that they both have yet to break. He had to guess that Ash was close though. It had been her dragon tortured and her father's return that were the biggest shocks for her.

Jason gave her shoulder a nudge, getting her attention again. She had zoned out again, the sad look coming over her face again. "You wanna talk about it?"

Ash sighed and glanced at him. She looked like she was debating keeping it to herself or talking to him. She sighed one more time before she leaned back against the wall. "She's more of a daughter to him than I am."

Jason flinched. Why did she sound so down about it?

"Okay… but…?"

"But I shouldn't feel this way. I wrote off my family when I ran away with Mer. So why am I jealous of some girl? I don't even know her. But he looked like…he actually cared about her…I never got that when I was still a part of his family. Why didn't I get that?" She looked at him, her eyes bright from holding back tears.

Maybe he spoke too soon about not breaking.

"I…I don't know what to tell you." He honestly had no clue. He had no family growing up, he had no way of knowing how to deal with this.

Ash blinked her tears away. She leaned forward and placed her head back on her knees, despondent. "It's not fair…"

Jason leaned back against the wall and sighed himself. He had been abandoned as a baby and grew up with random children in an orphanage. He never knew his parents, or if he had siblings. He did not know what to tell her. Life was unfair but she already knew that. She was talking about being the neglected child, the unwanted one, but was forced to live with the family that did not want her.

"I-I just don't know what to do anymore. I know we gotta get out of here, but we are going to be stuck here until I hear back from Mer." She sniffed. "He's going to need time to heal, I was only able to start the process for him. It's still going to take a couple of days."

That was true, they would not be able to go anywhere until Mer was able to fly again.

"We need to find our stuff too. That was my favorite pistol that I brought."

Jason could not help but chuckle at the unexpected pettiness of her statement. "Really, Ash? Just because they took your favorite gun you really want to go find our stuff?"

She scoffed at him. "Well, I don't know about you, but I want to change clothes and be able to shoot anyone who pisses me off."

Jason caught the eye roll she gave him and gave her a small smile in return. Maybe they were still able to hang on to everything.

"Sure, whatever you say." Who was he to tell her not to shoot the people who trapped them here?

* * *

The professor walked into the lab where he knew Katja would run off to. Despite going through many painful experiments in this room, she always found solace in it. He had no idea why, the girl had been strange to begin with. She had always been eager to participate in the experiments, no matter how much he had warned her about the pain, she would always agree to go through with them without him having to force her.

He found Katja standing next to the extractor, one hand on the table. She looked troubled as he walked up next to her.

"Professor, who was that boy?" she asked quietly once he was by her side.

"I do not know either. He was with the girl when we captured her. She was the primary objective." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. It was clear that she knew the boy, but she was denying that fact to herself.

"I…I see," she kept herself quiet. She was clearly trying to keep a tight lid on her emotions, but it was a struggle for her.

Katja turned to face him, her head downcast. "Who was the girl then? She seemed…familiar with you."

The professor took a deep breath and strode over to some of the file cabinets along the wall of the lab. He began to rummage through them until her found Ashley's file. He walked back to Katja and handed the file to her.

"Ashley, the girl, was the first successful experiment this lab produced. Although her bonding was through natural processes, unlike yours, she was still considered a forced bondage. She escaped around twelve years ago with her dragon and we have only just now located her. The boy was another Rider that we could use for experimentation so he was brought with."

Katja flipped through the file, skimming through the pages as he talked. She paused and looked up at him suddenly. "She is related to you?" she asked.

The professor nodded. "Yes. She is my daughter and I used her for the earliest experiments with the extractor."

He waited to hear the disgust from Katja about using his own family as experiments but it never came, she had gone back to reading Ashley's file. When she noticed that he was waiting for her response, she looked up at him and gave him a sweet smile.

"Professor, you had reason too. It says here in her file that she had so much magic at a young age that if you did not try anything, she would have clearly died from it. Her body was simply not strong enough to hold onto the amount that she had. It was perfectly understandable."

Eric could not help but smile back at her. Her reasoning took after his, understandably. He had raised her from a very young age. And where she had been forced to respect the commander, she showed much more devotion towards him than the other man out of her own free will.

"I'm glad you understand, Katja," he said as she handed him the file once more.

"Yes, it certainly explained why she was able to get you to raise your voice. Despite how the commander angers you, you have never raised your voice at him yet. Today was close, but you still refrained yourself." It was amazing how astute she could be. He had been careful about maintaining a calm exterior around all the personnel in the lab.

"Ah yes, she was being quite frustrating about the whole situation that happened earlier today."

Katja gave him a pat on the arm and turned to leave the lab, but she quickly removed it to cover her mouth in a yawn. "Professor, as much as I would like to continue to talk about this, I must really get some sleep. I flew through the night with Lilli to get here."

"My apologies, Katja. Go get some rest. I will send someone to fetch you once the machine is done compressing the magic I extracted."

"Thank you, Professor!" And with that she skipped out of the lab. Clearly what he had said was able to change her mood drastically.

Could she have been jealous of the reaction he gave to Ashley?

The professor shook his head. Katja was well aware that she was his top priority and he will always place her first. She had been ever since they took her from that orphanage from the Spine, and she had always shown a much deeper connection with him more than anyone else. Thinking on it, he had done the same over the years, treating her like his own daughter.

Maybe she had replaced Ashley in his heart, what little space that was.

* * *

 **So how was it? Did I do alright? It was more emotionally packed than I had anticipated and writing that kinda stuff between three different view points is kinda hard.**

 **Onto reviews!**

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: I'm so glad you keep coming back to review. :)**

* * *

 **Only one review guys? I thought we could do better than this.**

 **Still, thoughts? Reactions? Jokes? Puns? All are accepted in reviews, be sure to let me know what you think. Please?**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogey**


	31. Chapter 31

**I'm so sorry this took forever to be updated compared to my usual unofficial schedule. Writer's block hit me really hard and it resulted in another fic being posted. So sorry. Please enjoy this!**

* * *

Chapter 31

The cave was dark. Every few moments, Ash could hear the soldiers at the entrance shuffle their feet. It happened frequently enough to make her worried that something was about to happen. They were antsy.

Ash was antsy too. She could not sleep. The events of the day were still going through her mind and her blood boiled every time she came across the image of the commander ripping the nails out of Mer's wings. Ash clenched her teeth and rolled over on her bed, fighting to get comfortable with the mattress. Ever since she was out of the woods with her concussion, sleep had been hard to find. The nurse had only cleared her today, but she had felt fine a day or two before that. Yeah, her balance was still an issue sometimes but she had a handle on it. Her ribs only ached whenever she twisted around too fast, but she no longer had to have them bound.

Jason had passed out shortly after they finished talking. He had over exerted himself today with going through a magic extraction session and dealing with the commander. She had told him as much but he had refused to listen to her.

Ash sighed and rolled over once more. Sleep was not going to be coming any time soon. What she really wanted to do was to go outside and see the sky again. It felt like she had not seen it years, but it had only been a week.

She heard the soldiers start to whisper.

"Do you think it's been long enough?" one said.

"Wait five more minutes and we'll radio the boss."

"Roger."

What was that supposed to mean?

Ash sat up slowly, careful to not make the bed squeak.

 _Jase, I need you to wake up,_ she called out to him.

She heard him moan quietly from across the cave. _What is it?_

 _Something's up. Dunno what it is, but we should be ready._ Ash swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up, making her way to the middle of the cave.

 _Ash, go back to bed,_ he mumbled, too tired to really care.

 _Jason, you need to get up. I'm not joking! I heard the guards outside the cave talking about something. It sounds like they are going to radio the commander any minute,_ she urged.

Sure enough, the guards started talking again.

"Sir, is it time?"

 _"Yes, bring them outside."_

"Yessir, right away."

Ash heard them click their safeties off on their guns. She heard Jason quickly get up, now fully alert. The soldiers walked in, their guns leveled at them. They had night vision goggles on so that they could see both of them in the cave.

Ash raised her hands, waiting for them to get closer. They pulled out the machine guns that they had strapped to their backs. It was a new addition to the gear that they normally wore, it changed today once they got back from the dragons' cave. Apparently it had been an order from the commander after he was done being treated.

"Both of you are to follow us." The one on the right said.

Jason's bed creaked as he stood up. "Where are we going?" he asked as he stretched out his shoulders.

Ash kept her gaze on the guards, eyes narrowed.

"You'll find out when we get there." The same one answered.

They moved behind both of them and prodded them forward with the barrels of their guns. Ash winced at a particularly sharp jab by one of them and turned her head to snarl at them. "No need to get pushy."

The guard only grunted and shoved her again. She lowered her hands to her sides and walked out of the cave, Jason following behind her, hands in his pockets. Ash relaxed but kept her guard up and Jason put on a façade, only looking like he had no care for where they were going.

 _Any ideas to get out of this?_ Jason asked, glancing at her. Two more guards surrounded them as they made their way through the tunnels.

Ash shook her head only a fraction. _Not at the moment._

' _Kay._

Ash glanced around at the group of soldiers. Most of them had a foot's worth of height on her, standing even taller than Jason. She knew that between the two of them, they could take down these four goons no problem. But she did not want to start anything because Mer's wings still have not had the time to heal all the way.

 _Jason, can you reach Feuer?_

 _Yeah, I already talked to him. Mer is asleep, but his wings are looking better._

Ash felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. Thank the gods he was doing better.

 _Alright, I'm gonna wake him up too._

Jason quirked his mouth in a smirk. _Think we might be able to get out of here tonight?_

 _Maybe, let's just see what happens for a while. I have to wake up Mer and see how he's doing._

 _Got it._

They continued walking for a bit as Ash reached out to Mer. _Hey big guy, come on, time to wake up._

 _Ash? What are you doing awake?_ She struggled no to smile as her dragon yawned loudly.

 _They're taking us somewhere. How are your wings? Think you could fly tonight?_ This was going to be the best chance they can get to escape.

 _If we are going to try to escape tonight, you should ride with Feuer._ He told her. Ash assumed as much, his wings would be tender, even for him.

 _Got it. Be ready for anything tonight._

Mer grunted and Ash focused back to where they were going. They had been steadily moving their way upwards and out of the mountain.

 _So what did he say, Ash?_

 _If we do this, I'm gonna have to fly with you. His wings are still pretty sore and he won't be able to fly fast enough with me riding him._

 _Alright, that should be no problem. We are nearing their cave now. Want to take these guys out?_

Ash smirked and nodded.

Both of them whirled around and grabbed the guns, jerking them out of the soldiers' hands. Ash spun hers around, grabbed the barrel and used it as a bat against one of their heads, knocking him into another soldier unconscious. Jason punched the other soldier in the face, knocking him out. Two guards were down in a matter of seconds. Ash flipped the rifle around and pointed it at the other two, lining up one of them in the sights.

They had pulled out their own and were pointing them back at them.

"Put down the weapons, now." One of the guards commanded.

Ash smirked and laid a finger on the trigger. She heard Jason toss his rifle to the side. He had no use for it.

"Put down the gun now!" the guard yelled.

"Ooh, you're impatient aren't you?" Ash drawled. Her grip tightened on the trigger, still debating if she should shoot him. It would make their escape easier.

"Ash we don't have all night. Let's go." Jason said from behind her.

She gave him a curt nod and pulled the trigger, shooting the guard who yelled at her in the leg and the other in the shoulder, incapacitating both of them. They both dropped the ground, screaming in pain. Jason rushed passed her and started running down the tunnel, Ash followed behind after gathering a couple of clips for the rifle.

They ran to the cave where their dragons were located. They were both awake and alert, waiting for them.

Jason snapped his fingers, creating a jet of flame, burning a bright orange. He started to cut through the chains that were still binding the dragons. Ash took up a guard position and watched the cave entrance. So far, so good.

Within the next couple of moments, all the chains were lying on the ground and their dragons were free. Next came the hard part: leaving.

And that's when Ash realized that they had no idea how to get out of the mountain.

"Hey, Jase, do you know how to get out this place?" She asked over her shoulder. He had been awake when they were brought into the lab.

Jason clapped his hands, knocking the dirt off of them. "Yeah, I'll tell you when to turn. You take point and we'll follow behind you."

Ash nodded and began to walk out of the cave, everyone following right behind her.

She stopped suddenly. "Wait. What about our stuff?"

Jason scoffed and rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for that now, Ash! We have to get out of here first!"

Ash rolled her eyes and continued to walk through the hallways, slowly making their way upwards through the mountain. Occasionally, Jason would tell her to turn here and there. The tunnels were large enough for the dragons could walk with them.

They encountered no one as they walked. It put Jason and Ash on edge. They moved quickly, pausing at each corner, before moving on. The tunnels were empty. Ash could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stir as they continued on farther and farther. Something was not right. They should not be having this easy of a time getting out. The rifle she had did not have a silencer attached and the report of the gun echoed throughout the tunnel. The fact the no more guards came running unnerved her and Jason. They moved as cautiously as they could, the dragons' claws scraped on the ground, creating the most noise out of all of them. But they still had yet to come across anyone. This was beginning to feel staged.

Ash stopped as Jason told her to turn another corner, she could almost feel the fresh air. The dank air of the mountain had really taken its toll on her. Ash never thought of herself as claustrophobic, but being trapped in that mountain had made her think otherwise.

 _Jase, something isn't right._ She said to him as she peeked around the corner. The tunnel twisted away from them so she could not see all the way through. This must be the last tunnel they had to go through before they made it outside.

 _You're feeling it too?_ He asked in return.

Mercury ad Feuer both shuffled their wings. These tunnels were enormous to be able to fit both dragons side by side. The two of them could feel the breeze making its way through the final tunnel, making them antsy as their two Riders stood in front of them debating whether to continue this or find another way.

 _I really don't feel this is the way we should go._ Ash was saying, _we haven't seen anyone since we knocked out those first four._

 _Ash, we don't know if we have the time to actually search one out._ Jason argued in return.

Ash rolled her eyes. He was right but taking this tunnel did not sit right with her. It screamed 'don't go this way' at her and the last time she ignored her gut instinct it landed them in this hell whole.

She peeked one more time around the corner, hoping a second look would make the feeling go away. It refused.

 _Jase, I really don't think this is the best way to go…_

Jason put a comforting hand on her shoulder. _Don't worry too much. We're together and that's all that matters right now._

Ash was oh so thankful for the darkness of the tunnels. Even with their enhanced eyesight, the blushing spreading across her face would still be hard to see. She heard Mer huff behind them and she shot him a glare, shutting him up.

Jason did not seem to really catch the double meaning and Ash scolded herself for even going there in the first place. Ash looked down the tunnel as far as she could, tightened her grip on the automatic rifle, and steeled herself for whatever they were going to face.

They nodded to each other and began to creep through the last tunnel. Both of them were on edge. The lack of people in this place was unnerving and it was finally getting to them. Ash flinched at every other noise they accidently made, Jason would spin around every few steps to peer into the darkness behind them. Their dragons remained alert, but they, of course, had a better handle on themselves. Dragons. Nerves of steel.

They rounded the corner and came face to face with a wall of soldiers, all of their guns readied and aimed at them. Ash and Jason froze, eyes wide with horror. The commander stood there, looking as smug as could be.

Ash felt her temper spark as she stared at the man, the winds swirling around them.

"I knew you would try to escape if I sent for you," he drawled.

He started to pace before them. Their dragons began to snarl and growl, baring their teeth at the man that had them chained.

The commander could only laugh as their aggressive display. Ash grit her teeth and waited for the commander to explain why he was here.

He turned and faced them, smug smirk still in place. "The two of you will wish that you never left that cave of yours tonight."

Ash grit her teeth and glared at the commander. "What are you doing here?"

The commander chuckled. "Oh, us? We are going to put you back in the past."

Ash's eyes widened as she heard the safeties click off on all the guns pointed at them. Were they going to shoot them? Ash raised her own gun and pointed it at the commander, her safety already off. "What the hell are you thinking? You need us!"

"Technically, the professor does. I do not. The Governments do not need any more information on the Riders, we've had what we needed for the longest time now. He just wanted to test out his equipment more." The commander paced in front of them, flipping his hand languidly as he went about explaining to them. "The Elder we had died a week before we found you two. And we were able to gather enough magic from you that we should be able to hatch another dragon."

"Another dragon?" Jason asked. How in the hell did they have another dragon?

"You've met Katja. She has her dragon. Ever wonder how she got her?" the commander sneered at them, talking slightly slower than normal as if they were the slow ones.

Ash's mind was going a mile a minute, struggling to find a way out of this situation. The dragons were still inside the tunnel, her and Jason being the ones to lead them, therefore making it impossible to take off. And with the guns aimed at them? Fire would not be able to stop bullets at this range, no matter how hot the flame.

"What are you trying to say?" Jason growled back. His shoulders were stiff and his hands were clenched into the tightest fist he could make. Ash looked at him out of the side of her eye. He looked angrier than she as ever seen him, a vein threatening to make its appearance know at his temple, his jaw clenched and his teeth grinding against each other. He was pissed.

"It takes a certain level of magic to allow a dragon to hatch, besides the whole looking into your soul thing. The bond can happen with anybody once those beasts have hatched." The commander explained.

"You-you forced a dragon to hatch?" she whispered. She was so shocked by this, she almost lowered her weapon, but she saw the men shifting in front of her with their own and it kept her from lowering her guard.

The evil bastard in front of them chuckled. "Lilli, Katja, would you please come down here for a moment?" he called out into the night around them.

Ash glanced upwards, noting that the sky was dark with clouds, but when she heard the _wump_ of dragon wings and saw another shadow pass through the sky, she lowered her rifle as she stared at the dragon landing behind the line of men in front of her.

It nearly glowed in the night, its shimmering scales looked white, but they were, in fact, a light purple. A figure jumped off of the back of it, their white hair immediately recognizable. Katja strode towards them, stopping near the commander.

The man placed a hand on her shoulder and pride rang through his voice. "Katja here has been the most successful project the Governments produced, and now that we have proven that we can continue to harvest magic and feed it to others to increase their own, we will be able to create our own corps of Riders."

Ash was dumbfounded. Their own Corps of Riders? What did the Governments need with their own Corps? They already had complete control over the continent!

"What do you need the Riders for?" she bit out in shock, dreading his answer.

"Nothing to worry your head over, girl." He turned Katja around and marched both of them back to the line of soldiers. "Shoot 'em. We don't need them anymore."

All hell broke loose.

Ash did not have any time to think, but somehow she was able to create a strong enough wind to knock most of the soldiers off balance. It caught her off guard along with the soldiers standing in front of her. She recovered in time for Jason to leap forward, fists aflame, and start taking out the ones that did not fall over due to the wind.

Shots were fired all around them. Ash ducked down and started to fire off shots, wounding many soldiers as they tried to climb back to their feet. Mer and Feuer roared jets of flame at everything causing more panic among the soldiers.

Ash watched as the commander and Katja retreated to Lilli and flew off, barking orders along the way.

"Ready the planes! They are going to escape!"

Jason had climbed up onto Feuer and Mer was clearing a large area with his tail, knocking the soldiers left behind against the walls of the mountain with his tail. Once that was done, he leaped into the air, creating more room for Feuer. Ash ran to them and climbed on, ducking and dodging bullets along the way.

Before she knew it they were in the air and the soldiers on the ground were again knocked over from the force of Feuer's wings. Ash had dropped the rifle on the ground when she had climbed up, but she was not all that upset about it. The tunnel was fast disappearing and there was no sight of Katja and her dragon in the air. But that begged the question of where they went. Ash still did not have enough control over her magic to be able to call on it willingly.

She clung to Jason as they circled around the mountain, following Mer's silver scales through the night. Ash allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief as they were left alone in the sky.

Finally, they were out of that hell hole and were no longer in constant danger. Okay. Less danger than they had been. Ash rested her forehead on Jason's back, letting herself relax and dozing off slightly. The adrenaline high over, she began to shut down completely from the constant stress of the week.

An engine roared behind them and Ash looked over her shoulder to find the plane that they arrived in following them and gaining on them. Quickly.

She made a stupid decision.

Flipping around so she was back to back with Jason, she dragged her magic into action, creating as much wind as she could to stall out the plane chasing after them. The pull on her magic was much more than she expected but she was able to maintain the flow enough to give them the extra lead they needed.

That was the plan until they fired a missile at them.

It flew at them, ten times faster than the plane.

"Jason, roll, now!" Ash yelled.

Jason followed her order and forced Feuer into a barrel roll, just in the nick of time. The missile flew by them, right underneath Feuer's wing. Mer had seen what was happening and was able to avoid it easily.

But there was a slight problem again.

During the roll, Ash had nothing to hang onto, and to avoid dragging Jason off with her, she tried to hang on to Feuer's scales barehanded. And as they had finished the maneuver, Ash lost her grip and slipped off of Feuer's back. Jason yelled and reached out to her but their fingers just missed each other Ash disappeared into the night. Mer roared with concern and turned back towards them, diving to try to catch her, but he was too far away.

Ash fell.

* * *

 **Ok, first of all, thank you, everyone, who has stuck with this story so far. I feel terrible that I went so long in between updates and that I wrote something else instead of this.. (In fact, I have a few more WIPs that I'm hoarding that don't even belong in this tag..)**

 **But back to the story. That's what you came here to read about.. ehehehe**

 **That cliffy right? Haha, I was finally able to get through that writer's block and now the next couple of chapters should be easier to write out once I get back to college.**

 **Review, reviews, reviews!**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: You sweetheart, I'm so glad you like it! (I say this every time, but every time its relevant xD) Sorry about the slow update. Writer's block, what can you do?**

* * *

 **Sebastian Asselbergs** **: A new voice! Welcome! Yes, the beginning was really bad... let's not even talk about it shall we? Haha, but thank you for giving this story a second chance, it's greatly appreciated!**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: I feel that we went in two directions here for the time being, haha. But don't fret too much, all will be well in a few chapters. Maybe. Possibly? Who knows. Thanks for the wonderful reviews!**

* * *

 **Welp, that's all I got folks. Now that I think about it, that cliffy may be a little cliche, but I'm gonna keep it. This little ol' brain of mine has been struggling for the past week and I'm just glad to be able to have come up with something for you guys.**

 **Let me know what you think in a review, please! I would love to see your reactions. Humor a poor little writer, would ya?**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogey**


	32. Chapter 32

**Hey, everyone! I'm back. That cliffy didn't kill any of you, right?**

 **Anyways, here's the next chap. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 32

"Ash!"

Jason watched in horror as his friend plummeted towards the ground, his hand still stretched out to try and reach her, as pointless as that was at this point. This could not be happening. This was not happening. He could not be losing another person who tried to protect him. Why was it that everyone who tried to protect him ended up dying?

"Feuer, now!" He was not going to let this happen again.

Feuer rolled sharply into a dive, his nose pointed straight at the ground, wings tucked in tight. They shot towards the ground like a bullet. Mercury was below them but he was still too far away from Ash.

"No, no, no…" he muttered over and over again. He refused to believe that he was going to lose Ash like this. He was not going to lose her like he did Garrett. No, not again.

He faintly heard the plane that was chasing after them turn around over the roaring wind in his ears. It was headed back towards the lab, its work done.

A streak of white flashed underneath of them and the next thing Jason knew, Ash was no longer free falling in the sky. Where did she go?

Feuer pulled up hard, changing the direction of his momentum so fast, Jason nearly lost his grip.

 _That other Rider has her, we're following them._ Feuer told him as they chased after Katja.

Mer let out and angry roar and set to chasing them through the mountains. Katja was easily outpacing him and Feuer, but she never increased the distance between them, obviously leading them somewhere. Feuer and Mercury were both malnourished from a week without food, and Mer's wings had to hurt from the way he was pushing himself to catch up to the pale pair.

Mercury was furious that his Rider was in the claws of another dragon and Jason could vaguely see her lying limply in Katja's dragon's claws. What was she up to?

Mercury was somehow able to close the gap between him and Katja, breathing out a warning jet of flame, demanding his Rider back. Katja's dragon simply rolled away from the angry silver dragon, turning and disappearing behind a mountain. Mercury was hot on her tail.

Feuer slowed down, banking wide around the next mountain, giving Jason a good view of what was going on. A large cave and platform appeared as the rounded the mountain, large enough for multiple dragons to land without issue. He found Mer and Katja's dragon having a snarling match as Katja laid Ash on the ground gently. They were miles away from the lab but still encased within the mountains.

Land and break those two up before Mercury loses it. Jason told Feuer. The silver dragon was blind with rage at this point.

Feuer rumbled in agreement and was soon landing in between the snarling dragons. Mercury balked and jumped up into the air, smoke leaking from between his teeth as he continued to snarl at all of them. Jason jumped off of Feuer and ran around the off-white dragon.

The dragon tried to whip her tail at him, but he easily jumped over it as he continued to where Ash was on the ground. Jason ran straight to her but was suddenly blocked by Katja.

"What the hell?" he snarled, "Get out of the way!"

"No," she said curtly.

"Kat, this is seriously not the time to be getting in the way!" He tried to push past her again, but she shoved him back again.

"Stop this," Katja commanded once she managed to shake him off. "Doing this will not help her."

"Then what the hell is wrong with her!?" Jason shouted at her. She was not… she could not…

"She still lives, do not worry." Katja crossed her arms and stared Jason down.

Jason stared at her, eyes blazing. "Tell me what you've done to her."

Katja eyed him, whatever she was debating telling him was the least of his concerns, he wanted to know what was wrong with Ash.

"She is sleeping."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean? Why isn't she waking up?" Jason growled.

Katja rolled her eyes at him and waved a hand at her dragon, calling her off. "Lilli, that's enough."

Jason tried to move past her again, but she wrestled him to the ground, pinning his face into the ground. How the hell had she managed that?

"Leave her be, she will be fine. When Lilli caught her, the whiplash caused her to pass out. It is like I said. She is fine."

"Ger-off-"

Katja released him and stood. Her dragon had moved away, and Mer was still snapping and snarling at Feuer for blocking his path. Ash was motionless on the ground.

Jason slammed a fist on the ground. Why was everyone trying to protect him? They only got hurt. Garrett and Nova…now Ash. He could not keep doing this to the people he cared about. He had to do something, get stronger somehow.

"Why won't you let me go near her?" he asked. He was still on the ground, small cracks had appeared around his fist. Had he really hit the ground that hard?

"If you haven't noticed by now, then you would surely burn her if you went near her," Katja said coolly.

What? Jason did not notice anything wrong with the air temperature around them. Then again, it was hard to know so many dragons around, they radiated much more heat than he ever did.

"What are you talking about? I still have control over my magic." He said as he stood up.

Katja frowned at him for a moment before a look of revelation crossed her face. "Ah, that's right, you use fire magic, yes?"

Jason looked at her out of the corner of her eye a second before he turned his attention back to Ash, nodding. "So?"

Katja shrugged, but moved away from him, "I forgot that it makes you naturally warmer."

Jason took the opportunity to rush to Ash's side. She was still breathing, thank the gods. It was not because he did not believe Katja when she had told him she was fine, but her breathing had been so shallow he could not tell from a distance.

Jason let out a sigh of relief, placing a hand on her cheek. "Come on, Ash, wake up…" he whispered.

"As touching as this is, I must ask you something before I leave."

She had to ruin the moment…

Jason ground his teeth. What did she want now? "What."

"How do you know me? I…" Katja shuffled her feet, not finishing her sentence.

Jason finally looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "You don't remember me, do you." he said finally.

Katja shook her head. "As much as I try to remember the orphanage you mentioned, I cannot. Is that really where I am from?"

Jason sat back on his heels and studied her. Katja was still the same shy girl he met at the orphanage in the Spine. She did not get along well with the other kids either, but it was only because she did not know how to interact with them, where as he was actively sought out by them to be bullied him. Jason sighed and turned back to Ash, watching her sleep.

"You were there before I was," he said. "You didn't talk much, or hang out with the other kids either."

"But how can you remember while I cannot?" She looked genuinely confused as to why she could not remember something about her childhood.

"Ash mentioned that they had a machine that could change and add memories. They might have used it on you too." Jason offered. He truly felt sorry for this girl. Being abandoned and then adopted into the Governments' corrupt system was unfair. She did not deserve that, no one should.

"I don't remember that machine, either…" she said slowly.

"That's the whole point from what I understand."

Katja nodded, looking away from him.

"Look, if it's any consolation, Ash went through it too."

"I see," Katja withdrew into herself, taking a step towards her dragon.

All of the dragons had finally calmed down. Especially Mer. He was officially quiet now that Jason was near her. The dragon trusted him to look after Ash when he could not. Feuer finally relaxed as well. Katja's dragon was maintaining an aloof air to her, ignoring everything that was going on around her.

Jason watched as she was about to mount up onto her dragon, but he stopped her wanting to know one thing.

"Kat?"

The girl paused, facing away from him, her hair fluttering in the wind slightly. It was the only thing that had not changed about her.

When she did not say anything, Jason decided to keep talking. "Why do you stay with them? The Governments? They've been nothing but cruel to the Riders. Why don't you come with us?"

Katja's shoulder sagged, and she turned around to face him, tears brimming in her eyes. "I cannot leave them…Professor Eric has been nothing but kind to me since he adopted me from that orphanage you mentioned. I remember him taking me to the lab, giving me my own room, food for me alone, and my own bed to sleep in. His kindness in unrepayable. The Commander has taught me many things, and has given me the power to defend myself. All of this…" she struggled with her words. "All of this is something I cannot walk away from. It would be…cruel, cruel to do so. It is simply something I simply cannot do."

"The Riders would be a blessing to the world again if they were to come back, but you can see my dilemma." And with that, she mounted up. She wiped away the tears that had escaped and she turned back to him once more. "Stay here for a couple of days. This is my place and no one else knows about it. I can bring you both food until you have recovered enough to go home."

Jason nodded and accepted the offer. Who was he to refuse food at this point? He had no seen any animal life in the mountains, but then again it was the middle of the night. Katja flew off, her dragon's wings stirring what little dirt there was in the place that she left them. Jason had no name for it. It was half cave, half landing pad carved out of the mountain.

They were lost in the mountains, relying on someone who was on the other side of this impending war.

* * *

Ash remembered falling.

And then everything went black after a flash of white.

She sincerely hoped that she was not dead and that this was not the afterlife.

Ash cracked her eyes, squinting into the rising sun. Her neck and back twinged with pain as she started to sit up. She put a hand to her forehead as she adjusted to being awake.

How did she even get here? She was falling off of Feuer, Mer was too far away, and Jason was reaching for her. There was no saving her. During her free fall, she accepted that there was no surviving this short of a miracle. They had been miles into the sky and she had reached terminal velocity within seconds of falling.

Jason rushed over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Ash? Are you okay?" he asked frantically.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," she waved him off. He was little too close for her comfort, especially after just waking up.

"Thank the gods…" he breathed. He looked like he had not had a wink of sleep since they escaped.

"But are you okay? You look like you haven't slept at all."

"Because I haven't, I've been waiting for you to wake up."

Ash fought to hold back the blush that wanted to appear on her face so badly. They had no time for that. Who knows whether either of them would survive to reach adulthood at this point, and Ash for one did not want to another person leave her again.

Mer bounded over, shoving Jason out of the way and his scaled muzzle in her face and billowed smoke around her and Jason. He was humming with relief now that she was awake.

A second later he growled and snapped his teeth at her. Don't ever do that again, he scolded.

Ash could not stop herself from giggling at Mer's emotional one-eighty. He was so overprotective, but she loved him for it.

"Hey, it's okay, big guy, I'm still here," she soothed, rubbing his nose.

You wouldn't be if it weren't for Katja and Lilli. Mer shot back.

"What?" Ash asked, confused. "So this isn't the afterlife?"

Jason flicked her ear. "No," he said. "But Mer is right, you would've been dead if it weren't for Kat."

Ash narrowed her eyes, rubbing her ear. "Why did she save me then?"

"She wants the Riders to come back as much as we do, but she can't just walk away from the Governments," Jason explained.

"What? That's stupid! She saw how we were treated and what was done to Mer! How can she still side with them?" Ash refused to believe that any Rider would side with the Governments, not after the century of bad blood between them.

Jason shrugged and watched the sun continue to climb over the mountains. "They gave her a home, and as an orphan, that's a lot."

Ash's rage and confusion stopped dead in its tracks. She forgot that Jason was an orphan as well. It explained why he was so destroyed over Garrett's and Nova's death all those years ago, why he was so loyal to Ash and A'ilarin for giving him another home.

She looked away from him, guilt washing over her for being inconsiderate again. She was constantly forgetting that he was an orphan. Was it because he never acted like an orphan or because he never talked about it?

"Sorry, I keep forgetting that…" she mumbled.

Jason looked over at her and smiled sympathetically. "Ash, we've only known each other for a few months, it's hard to remember everything about someone, and I only just told you that a couple weeks ago."

Ash shook her head, "Doesn't make it any better."

Jason nudged her shoulder. "I don't want you treating me any differently just because I didn't have a family."

"Jase, that's not what I meant."

He turned to look at her, confused about what she was saying. "What are you goin' on about, Ash? It's not a big deal."

Ash looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Is that the reason why you keep bringing it up so casually?" she asked.

"Huh?" Great he had no idea he was doing that.

"Just… never mind. So what are we still doing here?" Ash changed the subject, at this point, there was no reason to go into that. They had to focus on surviving in these mountains.

"Waiting for Kat to bring us some food," Jason responded, looking out towards the towering mountains. "She told us to wait here a couple of days while things calmed down."

Speak of the devil, and she shall appear. Katja banked around the corner, her dragon practically sparkling in the sunlight.

Ash blinked at the sudden brightness of the dragon's appearance, it was almost ethereal. She could see all the colors in its scales, ranging from white to a light purple, blending together seamlessly. Her dragon's coloring reminded her of Feuer's color scheme, just subtler.

Katja's dragon landed gracefully on the edge of the platform they were on, and there was still plenty of room for Mer and Feuer to roam about freely. The white-haired girl jumped off of her dragon and made her way towards them, a heavy rucksack on her back.

"Ah, you've woken up." She said in greeting to Ash.

Ash, still not feeling quite friendly, huffed and rolled her eyes, looking off to the side. She had no right to dislike this girl, but she could not bring herself to treat Katja any differently.

Jason got up and approached her. "Hey, Kat. Whatcha got for us?" he greeted casually.

Ash swore he could make friends with anyone if he really wanted to. She was all rough edges and abrasive compared to him. She rolled her eyes and tried to stand up, but found her legs giving out under her.

Mer saved her from falling on her face, offering his head as something for her to lean on as she finally righted herself.

Jason and Kat were still conversing about the contents of her bag, and Ash felt a pang of jealousy shoot her through the heart, nothing in the way to stop it. This was why she had no desire to go to public school, no need to create a larger family outside of the one she had now, and defended the fact that she believed she was better off by herself.

 _Ash, it's not like that_. Mer consoled.

 _But it doesn't stop the feeling, Mer,_ she said as she limped further into the cave, looking for a wall to lean against and to get out of the now terribly bright sun.

"Ash?" Jason called from the front of the cave.

Ash waved as she continued to look for a dark corner. As much as she enjoyed Jason's company, she needed some alone time.

She did not hear any footsteps follow behind her, so she guessed she had a while. Mer was following her, his claws scraping against the stone floor. Ash continued to walk into the darkness.

Slowly she began to her running water the further she walked. Filled with the sudden urge to finally wash her hair after a week, Ash hurried forward.

All of the sudden, the cave opened up and Ash found herself in the center of the mountain. There was a small fountain running in the middle of the gigantic cavern, standing no higher than her shoulder. Ash gaped, casting her gaze over everything, forgetting about the fountain for a second.

There were ramps and holes along the cave walls, a layer of dust covering everything but the fountain. Posts stood along the ramps, ropes that had been in place to keep people from falling long withered away with age. The cavern was large enough for Mer to take flight and reach the highest caves near the top, but at the same time, the winding ramp was wide enough for two dragons to pass by each other.

 _What is this place?_ She asked in awe.

Mer took a deep breath, scenting the cave. _It's a hatchery_. He said grimly.

Ash took a deep breath and suddenly the scent of decay hit her nose. Upon a second look around, Ash finally saw the mix-matched piles of bones littering the cave. Not all of the flesh had been eaten away from time, there was almost no air flow through the cave and animals would avoid this place with all the dragons.

Mer sneezed, flame lighting up the cave briefly. _I don't like this place, Ash._

 _Me neither. Let me wash my hair and we'll leave._

She had felt an ominous feeling crawling along her skin as soon as she saw all of the bones. She shivered as she walked over to the fountain. The water was running pure and clean, and there was nothing in the bottom. Good, no bones had fallen into it.

Quickly, she took down her hair and dunked her head underneath the water. It was shockingly cool but it was refreshing at the same time. She scrubbed at her scalp, attempting to relieve her hair of all the grime it collected over the week. By the gods, it felt so good to have fairly clean hair.

Ash leaned over the edge of the fountain, her hair streaming water down her face and soaking her blood and dirt covered t-shirt. What she would give to have a clean shirt right now. The thing she was wearing smelled, enough to make her crinkle her nose whenever the breeze caught it just right.

She heard footsteps coming from the tunnel that led into the cavern. Ash wrung out her hair, looking over her shoulder as she watched Jason and Katja walk into the cavern,

Jason gaped at the sight the same way she had, while Katja stoically looked around, nonplussed about the environment she found herself in.

"What are you doing back here?" she asked Ash.

Ash finished wringing her hair out before gathering it into a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face. Katja's question making her even more suspicious about the girl.

"I heard the water and wanted to wash up," Ash replied, giving the other girl no leeway.

Jason moved out to the fountain, which was in the center of the cave and spun around in a circle. "What is this place?"

"A hatchery, or the old academy for the Riders from a hundred years ago," Ash answered just as Katja opened her mouth.

She snapped hers shut and narrowed her eyes at Ash. "How did you know that?" Someone did not want her to know about this place it seemed.

Ash rolled her eyes and walked over to one of the small dragon skulls, kneeling down next to it. "This place is covered in bones from dragons and humans. The dragon skeletons varied in size so some were obviously much younger than Mer and Feuer."

"And Lilli."

Ash glanced over at her before returning her attention to the pile of bones in front of her. "And Lilli, I guess," she acquiesced.

"This place was not on any maps that the Governments had on record," Katja said after a moment. "I looked through every map we had on file to try to find this place."

Ash gave her a critical look as she stood back up. "So you happened upon this place by chance then?"

Katja nodded as she walked towards the fountain. Feuer and Lilli had not followed them, and Mer was looking uncomfortable here in the cave.

 _What is it, Mer?_ Ash asked when he continued to look around cautiously.

 _Something does not feel right here,_ was all he said before he left the cave.

Ash took that as her cue to follow behind him. The sense of foreboding had not left her since she saw the bones.

"Come on guys, Mer doesn't like the feel of this place." She called over her shoulder as she followed behind her dragon. His senses were better than hers, and she would always trust them over her own.

As footsteps echoed through the tunnel from behind her, a splash from the fountain could be heard as well. Jason must have done what she had done, and decided to wash his hair too. Katja caught up to her and walked in step with her.

Ash looked at her out of the corner of her eye. She still had no idea what to think of this girl. On the one hand, Katja had saved her from her free fall death spiral, but on the other, she was still on the other side of this war.

"Ashley was it?" she asked.

Ash nodded. "Yup, call me Ash, though," she said. "Everyone calls me that, you might as well too."

"As you wish, Ash." Katja gave her a small smile, clearly attempting to be friendly. Ash still felt cold walking next to her. "How is your leg? I realized Lilli may have grabbed you roughly when we caught you."

Ash's eyes widened at the sudden thoughtfulness from this girl. Was this still the same person who almost ripped her throat out when she had beaten the commander for hurting Mer?

"Ah, well, it'll be alright. Just sore, I guess." Ash rubbed the back of her neck. It was true that she was still limping a little but it was nothing that would cause her trouble later on.

"That's good. I brought some pain medication just in case."

Ash shuddered. That pain medication only made her loopy and she hated the feeling of not being in control like that. "Nothing terrible strong right?"

Katja thought for a moment. "I believe it is a low dosage. Again, I only brought it in case we caused some other damage when we caught you."

They walked out of the tunnel. The sun was higher, but it still reflected off of Lilli's scales, flashing both of them as they exited the tunnel. Ash put a hand in front of her face, warding off the worst of it.

"About that," she said. "Thanks for catching me, it would have been a terrible way to go. A Rider, falling off a dragon? Disgraceful." She chuckled a little bit at her own joke, her personality not letting her remain aloof to a person who went out of their way for her. Ash had to admit that Katja was not as bad as she made her out to be.

Katja walked to the rucksack and pulled out a bag of dried fruit. Upon seeing it, Ash's stomach growled, and she heard Jason's do the same from not too far behind her.

"Dried fruits and meats were the best that I could gather without anyone noticing someone had raided the kitchens," Katja said as she offered them each half of the bag.

Ash and Jason wolfed them down. With the whole dragon debacle earlier yesterday morning, they had not gotten the chance to eat, and the Commander probably denied them any food when it came to their evening meal.

"Shanks, Gat," Jason muttered around a mouthful of fruit.

Ash slapped on the shoulder. "Swallow before you talk, Jase." She reprimanded.

He swallowed and rubbed his shoulder. "Fine, fine."

Katja continued to unpack some more food and dozen or so water bottles. She handed one to Ash along with a bottle of pills. Ash studied the label and quickly handed them back to the other girl.

"Sorry but those are the same kind the nurse gave me, no thanks." She said, grimacing at the thought of her mind being fuzzy from drugs.

"That's fine." The painkillers were packed away.

Katja gathered everything up and tossed the bag over her shoulder.

"I will be going then, the professor and Commander will be wondering where I've gone and will need me to search the mountains for you. I'll be sure to avoid this area for your sake and mine." She said as she walked towards Lilli.

Ash stiffened at the mention of the professor. Of course, she would bring him up. Rub it in her face that her own father prefers another that is not even his. Screw him. Ash could care even less about the commander.

Katja flew off without another word to them, leaving them with dried fruit and jerky.

Ash let out a heavy sigh. Now what?

 **Alrighty, so everyone can let out a sigh of relief, no one has died...yet. *cue the evil laughter* Sorry, I've been on a Game of Thrones kick and characters might start dying here soon. It's gonna be a lot like Russian Roulette here soon.**

 **Anyways... Holy cow guys! 7 Reviews the last chapter! That's awesome for this fic, it's the most it's ever gotten for a single chapter, like oh my gosh!**

* * *

 **Nikolasowa : ****Haha, yes a cliffy! Hope this chapter resolved any feelings about that. xD**

* * *

 **SFT : Yup, it sure was. And ah, the secrets that I hold as the author cannot be revealed that easily. But it was mentioned thatGovts wanted their own Corps in the prologue, make your assumptions from there. I look forward to seeing what you think. :)**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness : Holy cow, 8 months of a writer's block? How did you survive? I would cancel the fic after that long..**

* * *

 **Nechochwen : Well she didn't exactly bounce, but you were worried about her for awhile there, weren't ya? I can't be that cruel...yet. *manic laughter ensues***

* * *

 **Sebastiaan Asselbergs : I plan on doing every story I write justice to its inspiration. What kinda writer would I be if I didn't? (there is so much sarcasm here, I mean no offense)**

* * *

 **LukasAlbert : Another new voice! Welcome to the place where I lose my sanity! (jk) Thank you for the compliments, and I thought it was a cool idea as well, and thus, here we are. Lol. Glad you are enjoying so far. :)**

* * *

 **ShadowTabby : Don't be sad, our favorite Rider is still alive and kickin'! I hope you find your story, I would love to give it a read once you build up the courage. And trust me, it takes a lot to get the first of anything out here. But once you get past the first chapter or so, it starts to snowball and get easier and easier.**

* * *

 **Welp that's everything for now.**

 **I have officially decided that Friday/Saturday night is when this story will be updated. I work every other Friday (except tonight I was sick and didn't want to be near people so I wrote instead) (Don't worry, someone covered for me) Anyways, I'm writing Fairy Tail one-shots in between chapters just to keep me busy and improving my writing, a lot of development is needed for those little things, believe it or not, so it's good practice. And I just received a request to start a Fairy Tail Multichap Fic that I hope to start in the summer, or even as early as late spring. Who knows, but it's going to happen. :)**

 **And just so you all know. My tumblr was recently deleted and I have started over. I have the same URL: heyitsmogan and I should be pretty easy to find still.**

 **That's all from me now. Can we try to reach 10 reviews next chapter? We did get 7 this time around, so maybe? Just maybe keep the ball rolling?**

 **See you guys next chapter!**

 **Mogey**


	33. Chapter 33

**Ok, I tried to fit into a schedule but obviously that's not going to happen. Anyways, here's the chap.**

* * *

Chapter 33

Katja flew off, leaving Jason and Ash alone once more.

Jason dug into the jerky, chowing down on about half of it before finally stopping. Ash did not touch hers, leaving it in the small bag. She found herself without an appetite.

"Jase, did she seem… different to you? Like from before we first met her?" she asked.

Mer rumbled behind her, and Feuer cocked his head at the question. Jason simply froze, stopping mid-chew.

"What do you mean?" he asked after a moment.

Ash shrugged. "She just seemed…off. Do you think my fa- no- the professor put her up to this?"

Jason took a moment before answering. "I don't know, Ash. I think she is doing this on her own. Your- the professor didn't seem to care for the Riders very much, so why would he have her go out of her way to help us? To save you when she could've just let you die?"

Ash hummed thoughtfully. He had a point, but there had to be a catch to all of this…this sudden friendliness. Katja had seemed so frigid before and now…now it felt like someone was slowly melting away all that ice.

"Ash, I wouldn't think about it too much. She's trying to be helpful and we should be thankful."

"I never said I wasn't. But I can't shake the feeling that this might be too good to be true, you know? She's still siding with them. And I can't help the feeling that letting her help us might be a mistake." Ash tucked her knees into her chest and rested her chin on them.

A'ilarin would know what to do in a situation like this. What Ash would give to be able to see her again. And Nyetia. Ash had the ever growing feeling of being lost the longer she was away from her mentor. How had Jason handled this?

"How did you do it?" she asked.

"Huh? Do what?"

Ash sighed, tucking her chin to her chest in order to rest her forehead on her knees. "How do you manage not to…not to feel so lost?"

"I-I dunno. Me and Feuer, we just kinda existed for awhile. I guess…" Jason zipped up the bag of jerky and set it off to the side.

Both dragons were curled around them, providing warmth. Being this high in the mountains did not allow for a lot of heat to reach them, despite the sun beating directly on them. The biting wind just took it away. After stalling that plane last night, Ash felt like she could have redirected the winds, but she was too wrapped in her own feelings in order to concentrate on that task.

"We should leave," she muttered to herself more than anyone.

Jason heard her, though. "Let's give her a chance before we just ditch, Ash."

Ash raised her head and looked over at him. "Fine, but the longer we stay here, the more at risk we are."

* * *

Katja and Lilli landed outside the lab. The landing was still littered with guns, and a couple of dead bodies were still there as well, Ashley's shots having killed them. Katja wondered if she had done so on purpose. She did not seem like the type of girl to kill just to escape, but she could be wrong about her.

Katja stalked into the lab, searching for the professor. After talking with Jason, some questions had come up, more than she would have liked. Why would the professor tamper with her memories when she had been nothing but loyal to his and the commander's cause.

She stormed past all of the lab assistants as she made her way through the maze of tunnels. Eventually, she came to the room where the professor conducted his analysis of the data he collected from his subjects. From what she could tell all of it was Jason's and Ashley's data. Something about them still intrigued him.

"Professor."

Kat stood at attention in the middle of the room, waiting for him to acknowledge her.

"Yes, Katja?" He sounded so casual, not even turning around to face her.

"Is it true that you have a machine which alters memories?" There was no dancing around the issue here. She wanted answers, no, she needed them.

The professor's shoulders slumped slightly, but he did not turn around. "Yes, we do. May I ask how you find out about it?" he said slowly.

Katja took a deep breath. As much as trusted the professor, there were secrets being kept here, and now she needed to start keeping her own. "I overheard a few of the lab technicians talking about it."

Finally, the professor turned around in his chair. He did not say anything for a moment, simply watching her. Kat had schooled her features into a calm visage, not wanting to reveal anything.

"There is something else that you want know about it." He stated.

Katja nodded. "Has it been used on me?"

The professor sighed. "You are aware that the extraction process is painful, yes?"

Katja stiffened. Where was this going? "I was."

He leaned back in his chair, relaxed. "Well, research had found that, due to the extraction process being so painful, the next time subjects had to undergo it again, the subject would be put themselves through more pain because they would try to hold back their magic from the machine. We felt it would be easier if we erased those memories. This led to researching how one might do so. Eventually resulting in the device we now have," the professor explained.

Katja was suspicious. Yes, she understood that the process of extracting magic from an untrained individual was a painful process, but since she had lost her memories of those times, she did not know exactly how painful it was. She only vaguely understood. But it begs the question: what else did they take?

"That's all well and fair, Professor, but please explain to me why my childhood has disappeared? I cannot remember anything before my adoption."

The professor gave her a hard stare. Did she say too much?

"Is this about that boy, Jason?" he asked.

Katja flinched unintentionally but nodded. She was not going to lie to him outright, withhold information, yes, but she would tell him if he asked.

"Ah, I see. I'm surprised you listened to him. He could have been lying to you." The professor locked eyes with her. He was testing her.

Katja met his stare with an icy one of her own. "You know as well as I do that he was being sincere. If he were not, his aura would have wavered and I would have felt it."

The professor blinked, but accepted her answer with a small nod. "I forgot about that ability of yours. From your brief time with them, what was your impression of them?"

It was Katja's turn to blink. Why was he suddenly interested in them?

"What do you want to know?" she asked warily. He was avoiding her question, too.

"Hmm?" he said as he turned back to the data. "Oh, anything that you can tell me. I know your interactions with them were brief."

Katja took a deep breath and sorted out what she was going to say. She did not want to reveal too much, lest she gave away Jason's and Ashley's conditions. He was aware of their escape last night.

"The boy, Jason, was telling the truth. He had a…warm aura. Protective, but not overbearing." Katja said carefully, sticking to the question that the professor asked her initially. "The girl. I could not get a clear read on her. All of her emotions were…swirling, like the wind. Obscuring and contradicting each other," This was part of the reason why she found it hard to get along with Ashley, too many conflicting emotions.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, Professor," Katja wished that he would tell her more. There had to be more than what he was saying to her.

"Where were you this morning by the way? I tried to send for you, but you weren't here." He said offhandedly as she turned to walk out of the room.

Katja froze midstep. She thought she had been dismissed when he had turned back around. But now he wanted to know where she had been.

"Lilli… wanted to go flying. And the morning was nice, so…we went." Her words were shaky, but she was confident that he missed the nervous warble in her voice and the short pauses in her answer.

"Alright, Kat. Just be sure to let someone know before you leave for most of the day again." And with that, the conversation was over.

Katja walked out of the lab. She was frustrated with the professor, but there was nothing that she could do. The professor had rescued her from, somewhere. It could have been the orphanage as Jason had said, but it could have been from anywhere else. That memory machine he had created for the purpose of easing the magic extraction process, it was disturbing. And she had been placed it… She had no idea what else could have been taken from her.

The seed of doubt had been planted.

* * *

The two of them soared through the sky. Nyetia had heard the commotion last night. Airplane engines had roared through the night, while gunshots echoed off of the mountains, a few explosions bounced around the valleys.

What had happened last night?

A'ilarin and Nyetia flew through the night, trying to locate where the ruckus was coming from. But even with a dragon's hearing, it was still hard to find.

By early morning, they had found rubble from some sort of explosion on one of the mountains, with scorch marks radiating outward from the impact zone.

They were getting closer to finding Ash and Jason. If they were running from something, then destruction was sure to follow. A'ilarin had never thought these mountains would be occupied, and so to find evidence of humans this far into them was concerning.

Nyetia circled the mountain, soaring as high as they could without A'ilarin becoming hypothermic. Frustration and annoyance for those two were the only things keeping her warm at this point, but it was nothing compared to the frozen winds that ruled the mountains. Still, they could not find any more sign of where the planes had come from. And there was still no sign of the two teenagers they had been searching for the past week.

 _They're close, I can feel it,_ A'ilarin said as she craned her neck around to view the mountains behind them.

 _They are, but I can't pick up a scent or hear anything. This valley has been silent since we left the cave,_ replied her partner. As the plates of her armor glinted in the sun and A'ilarin narrowed her eyes against the glare.

A'ilarin reached out with her mind, searching for any hint of their magical signatures. But there seemed to be something suppressing magic in the mountains.

A streak of white flashed underneath them. The glimmer coming off of it reminded her of Nova's scales.

There was no way…

It was another Rider.

 _Nyetia follow them, they could know where Ash and Jason are._

Nyetia rumbled in agreement and continued to follow them from afar, waiting for the perfect moment to confront them. They wove in and out of the mountains and were eventually led to one of the largest mountains in the whole chain.

The Rider they were following landed in a cave opening and quickly disappeared inside. They were only able to catch a glimpse of the dragon's tail before they both disappeared from view.

 _Looks like we know where they are now. Let's come back tomorrow_ , Nyetia suggested as the rounded another peak, leaving the cave behind.

 _Tomorrow night would be best._ That's when they will get them back.

* * *

 **Mmkay, we got a little bit of everyone here. Sorry, it's kinda short. Converging plotlines can be hard to write sometimes but this chap set up the next one nicely if I do say so myself.**

 **Onto reviews!**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness : I'm glad you did! We shall see what happens with that. xD**

* * *

 **Istrali Shurtugal** **: Thanks! Yup, I'm trying to get there, but I gotta have my plot twists and such in place before we do. :) And most chapters take me about a week to write around school and my job.**

* * *

 **Sebastiaan Asselbergs** **: Thanks! See you next chapter!**

* * *

 **LukasAlbert** **: Hey it's you again! :D Anywho, Kat and Ash are on opposite sides, it will be hard for them to ever be friendly. But if you got a request, send me a PM, I'd be glad to work with you! :)**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: I hope this helped with Kat's "acceptance" and explains more about her side of this impending war. Her character is still kinda tricky to write, but I enjoy the challenge! :)**

* * *

 **Welp, that's all I got people. See you sometime next week!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogey**


	34. Chapter 34

**Hey, yall. I'm back with a very early morning update. I love these sleepless nights. They're so much fun. Enjoy the chap!**

* * *

Chapter 34

 _Hey, Mer?_

Her silver dragon grumbled, shifting his wings in acknowledgment.

 _Do you think we can find anything in that cave?_

The day had dragged on and Ash was going stir crazy again. Mer still was unable to fly, at least, not for long, his wings not fully healed. Jason seemed content to laze the day away, he was napping on Feuer's shoulder. Even his dragon was asleep. So, with no one to talk to, Ash resorted to bugging her dragon.

 _Nothing felt right about that cave, Ash. We should stay out of it,_ Mer growled at her.

Ash huffed and pouted. _What's wrong with it then?_

 _The bones, the smell, and the stillness of the whole place._

Ash rolled her eyes at her testy dragon. He probably did not get much sleep the whole time they were in the lab, being pinned to the ground and all. But Ash was still bored and if he was not going to go with her into the cave, then she would just go by herself.

Ash stood up and dusted off her tattered pants. Both she and Jason were in a desperate need of new clothes, or else the flight home would be painful. Ash started to walk towards the tunnel that led to the giant cavern, hopping over Mer's tail.

The dragon lifted his head to turn and watch her. Once he saw where she was going, he snapped his teeth and got up to follow her. Ash smirked to herself. She knew Mer would come after her, even before made it into the tunnel.

 _Ash, this is stupid,_ he grumbled.

Ash turned over her shoulder to give him a toothy grin. _Yeah, and stupid things make for great stories._

 _You would make a great story then._

Ash gasped and put a hand to her heart. _Hey, that hurts you know!_

Maybe she was rubbing off on him a little too much with that sass.

Mer puffed out a cloud of smoke at her, dousing her in it as they continued through the tunnel.

Soon enough they reached the cavern, the fountain still splashing rhythmically in the center of it all. The bones were still there and Ash could not help the wave of sorrow that washed over her as she gazed upon them.

Many of the skeletons that littered the floor were either human or smaller dragons, younglings, none of them older than three or four months old. Most of the humans were well into their adult years, none looking like they were going through puberty and looking slightly disproportioned. If she remembered correctly, A'ilarin had mentioned that Ash was the youngest Rider in history. And as far as she knew, Jason was more than likely a year older than her, but both of them got their dragons around the same age.

Ash walked around the fountain, looking for the starting point of the gigantic ramp that wound its way up the sides of the cavern. She wanted to explore the different holes in the wall, just to see if there would be anything left inside of them.

An uneasy feeling crept up to her and Mer, causing her to shiver and her dragon to shift uncomfortably. Was there something living in this cave? It was unlikely, considering everything had gathered a layer of dust and was only recently disturbed by her and Mer earlier that day when she came to wash her hair.

Ash listened for a moment, trying to hear any sort of movement or breathing of a living creature that could be in this cave. But she only heard her own breathing and Mer rustle his wings. There was nothing here but them.

 _Ash…_

 _Quit being a big chicken and let's go explore,_ she chided as she made her way to the ramp.

 _I'm not a chicken…_ Mer muttered, but followed her anyway.

Ash rolled her eyes again at her dragon. She trusted his instincts but sometimes that took all the fun out of things.

They made their way up the ramp, stopping to check some of the holes in the wall. Most were empty, though there were a few bones here and there. The farther they climbed the more they started to find. Personal items such as pieces of clothing, a stray dagger, empty trunks at the end of beds. Ash felt like she was grave robbing going through all of these caves and looking for anything interesting, but curiosity had its grip on her, and if it killed the cat, her satisfaction would bring it back.

Mer followed reluctantly, still grumbling about the whole cavern making him uneasy. Ash kept waving him off, calling him an overprotective lizard whenever he insisted on checking out a cave before letting her look. That did not stop him, however. Every time he felt something was off in a cave, he would sneak in and block the way before Ash could check it out. And every time he would grumble and growl because Ash would just crawl over him since he was too slow getting out of the way.

 _You could stand to have some caution,_ he muttered as she climbed over him for the umpteenth time.

They had been winding their way around for a couple of hours now and were about a third of the way up now. The cavern was huge, it was going to take awhile to get to the top.

Ash meandered into the next cavern and came across some more belongings that survived the war of time. This cave held more clothing, although nothing that they could actually use. Most of the clothing that she found was either beyond repair or would disintegrate as soon as she tried to pick it up. The caves here also seemingly better preserved the higher they went, hinges were appearing on the entrances and some had doors that had been knocked down, such as the one she was currently standing on.

Mer let out a low growl, and Ash turned to see what was going on. Her silver dragon was facing the outside of the cave, bristling at whatever was out there.

 _What's up?_

 _We should head back to Jason._

Ash sighed, Mer was being quite pushy on the subject of not exploring this cave, and it was beginning to annoy her how reserved her dragon was being. Where had his adventurous spirit gone?

 _Mer, I think you're overreact-_

A rumble from higher up in the cave echoed around the cavern, some rocks falling past their doorway and all the way to the floor a half mile below them.

Ash froze, watching Mer as he continued to take a protective stance inside the entrance way.

 _Mer?_

His growl intensified and he began to gnash his teeth.

 _Hey, Mer, will you cal-_

"Ash! Where the hell did you go?" came Jason's distant call.

Mer instantly stopped his display and Ash felt the tension that had been building since Mer started being overprotective. She shook her head and chuckled a bit. Leave it to Jason to diffuse a situation.

"Ash! For real, where did you go!?" he shouted.

Ash climbed over Mer peered over the edge of the ramp, spotting him down at the bottom next to the fountain. Feuer was with him too. Jason was turning about, looking for any sign of them in the cavern. Another rumble from above them caused more rocks to fall over the edge. Some pelted Ash and she squeaked in surprise when one hit her in the head. What was going on up there?

 _We should see what's up there,_ she said, turning back to Mer.

He glared at her and was about to say no when stone colored dragon launched from above them and spiraled down towards Jason and Feuer.

"Jase! Look out!" Ash called out in alarm.

Jason looked up and instantly lit himself on fire as the wild dragon flew down. Feuer roared in warning and moved to block the dragon. The dark gray dragon swerved and landed in front of the tunnel, blocking any escape they had.

Ash leapt onto Mer's back and jumped off the ramp and glided down to stand by Jason and Feuer. The other dragon was still snarling and blocking the tunnel, putting on a threatening display. Somehow this dragon had been missed by Mer's nose and her ears, how did they miss it?

Ash stepped forward, hands out in a placating manner. Flashbacks to when she had to treat Nyetia in such a manner passed through her mind, and a wry grin almost broke out on her face. But she kept her face clear, she did not want to set off this dragon anymore than it already was.

" _Hey, shhh, we don't mean you any harm,"_ she said softly.

The dragon focused on her, its milky eyes looking around, nostrils flared as it picked out her scent. She cringed inwardly, she smelled terrible from their captivity. But was this dragon blind?

 _Storm-Soul, why have you come here?_ It asked warily.

Storm-Soul? Who was that?

 _Who is Storm-Soul?_ She asked slowly.

"Ash, be careful. I don't think it can see us." Jason warned.

 _I can still hear you Fire-Brother,_ the dragon snarled.

 _Hey, hey, he meant nothing by it,_ Ash intervened before Jason could respond. She took another step forward, now standing in between her friends and the dragon.

 _We didn't know you were here. Do you want us to leave?_ Jason asked.

The dragon hissed, _This cave has been empty for a hundred years, how have you come upon it?_

 _We were led here by another. Have you been here this whole time?_ Ash responded.

 _Ice-Heart has ventured in here before, but she has never caused such a ruckus. The fountain was as far as she went, thankfully._ The dragon lowered itself to the ground, arranging itself so it looked regal in front of them.

Ash was genuinely surprised that this dragon was speaking to them in such mild terms. A'ilarin had told her that most wild dragons would avoid human contact in general. The history between the human race and dragon kind had been strained for the last few centuries, even the Riders had been for the most part ignored. If this dragon had been a Rider's dragon, then it should be dead if its Rider no longer lived. Right? Ash was certain A'ilarin had drilled that into her head, but was it all a lie?

"Kat? You've seen Katja before?" Jason's face was scrunched up in confusion.

He walked up to stand next to her. Ash was still holding her hands out to the dragon, but she slowly lowered them to her sides, this dragon was not threatening anymore, merely being curious at this point.

 _Is that what the Ice-Heart goes by? What a strange name 'Kat', Ice-Heart is much more fitting._

Ash cast a glance at Jason. He shrugged in return. Both of them thought that there was a good chance this dragon had gone insane with lack of outside interaction.

"Why did you come out for us and not her?" Ash inquired, hoping to steer the conversation away from Katja.

 _Because you and Quicksilver were making a racket. It disturbed my rest._

Ash rolled her eyes. No, it was old and crotchety.

"We apologize for that, but we were honestly curious about what was here." she acquiesced.

The dragon harrumphed but offered no other remark to her.

"How long have you been here?"

 _Longer than you would think. You are merely specks to my lifetime._

Ash scoffed, she was seventeen, not a baby. But compared to a hundred years, let alone the span of time it was implying, she might as well be. Jason was probably older than her too. Wait, why did this matter to her? Rider lives have always been extended like their dragons. Why did she care?

 _Stonescales, why have you remained here in this deserted place? There is nothing to hunt here,_ Feuer rumbled. Stonescales sounded right for the dark gray dragon.

 _Blazewing, you are young and would not understand the significance of this place._

"Wait, is this the Academy?" Ash gasped as she turned to look around with a new eye.

 _It was, once. And before that, something far greater. But now tis merely a ruin, a husk of its former glory,_ the dragon sniffed, its head weaving around as it gathered sounds and smells from them. _This place has been picked clean by those wretched two-legs you allow rule over you. Oath-Breakers, the lot of 'em. Almost nothing is left._

Ash turned back to the dragon. It had said 'almost'. Did that mean there is something left?

"Is there anything left, then?" She asked, turning to face the dragon again.

The dragon suddenly became still, its head weaving stopped and for the first time during the conversation, Ash felt like it was looking at her.

 _Why should I tell you?_

Ash shrugged. She was nothing special. "I'm just curious, honestly. We are all on the run from the Governments, so it's not like we are going to run back to them goin' 'hey look what we found!' Because that would be ridiculous."

Jason had been quiet, giving her a weird look, but that was nothing compared to the way the gray dragon was staring at her.

After a moment, it huffed, snapping its teeth. _You have the heart of a leader, Storm-Soul._

" _Eh?"_

The dragon continued on, ignoring her interruption. _Your heart is true, though clouded by anger. You shall find that which you seek, at the peak_

Ash turned and looked up. There was one landing up there that was only accessible by a dragon. She turned to thank the one before her…

But it was gone and Jason was trying to get her attention.

"Ash, what's gotten into you?" He asked.

She turned from him to the tunnel and back to him, confused about what just happened.

"Please tell me you saw that dragon too." There was no way that they did not see a dragon there.

But how did it disappear like that?

"Ash, there never was a dragon." Jason stepped forward and put a hand to her forehead. "You feeling alright?"

She batted his hand away and took a step back. "But you talked to it too, it called you Fire-Brother."

Jason scrunched his eyebrows together before shaking his and sighing. "This is what you get for ditching me again."

Ash stiffened. "I did not ditch you."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Like you and Mercury both disappearing doesn't look like ditching. What the hell, Ash? I thought we said we were going to get through this together and not leave each other." Waves of heated air rolled off of him.

Hair sparking, Ash snapped back at him. "Do you really have so little faith in me and Mer to think that we would just up and leave you? The hell, Jason, I thought we were better friends than that."

He looked hurt at her words but that did not stop him from replying. "What do you want me to think, Ash? I've already been abandoned once."

Ash felt her anger drain away. She could be really insensitive at times. "Okay, well, I'm going up top. Do what you want."

She made her way over to Mer and settled onto his back. _Let's go._

She did not wait to see if Jason was going to follow her on Feuer, he was being as unreasonable as she was and they both needed time to cool off. A week of nothing but each other to hang out with had proven to be a little too much for them she guessed.

 _Mer, you saw that dragon too, right?_ she asked.

He was silent as they continued to circle higher into the cavern. They were only about to where they had been before they had leapt down to meet Jason and the 'dragon'.

 _I didn't see a dragon there, Ash._

 _Dammit!_ Ash was beyond frustrated. _There is no way that was just an illusion. Seriously, Jason and Feuer both spoke to it. How could no one have seen it?_

Mer was almost two-thirds of the way to the landing before she heard Feuer's wings pushing through the air below them. It looked like Jason had had enough of being left alone for the day then.

A few moments later, Ash and Mer were landing outside of the highest cave. It was in the best condition by far, even though it was only reachable by flying she figured the Governments would have reached it somehow if they'd noticed. Over top of the arch was a massive gray gemstone that seemed to be backlit somehow, even though she could see no way for that to be possible, and was surrounded by a ring of smaller stones, each of these glimmered with light radiating from the central stone. Instead of a door, it had a massive curtain blocking the entrance. Ash slid off of Mer and made her way toward the entrance, surprised when the cloth parted on its own to let her in. Mer huffed and followed her in.

Inside the cavern was massive. Sixty dragons the size of Mercury could have easily fit inside it. But beyond that it was like stepping into another time. Cultures clashed before Ash's eyes and at first she had no clue where to start. Tapestries lined every wall. Weapons that looked ancient, and yet brand new rested on pedestals; there was a hammer that would not have looked out of place in a blacksmith's shop, a sword that looked to be made from pure gold, a javelin which glowed green but radiated such a sense of unease even she was wary of it. Was that what was causing the weird feeling they had felt when they first entered the main part of this place? There were many others throughout the hall. At the far end there was a large dais that must have stood fifty feet tall and looked to be around a hundred feet across. Over it there looked to be a painting of what must have been the Orders coat of arms, but she didn't examine it too closely.

At the back of the room there were also two large cloth covered archways leading in opposite directions. Following one she found herself in another large room, though not nearly the size of the one she had just left. A map was spread across a table in the center, with figurines marking certain places on it. Piles of books were laid on its corners, holding it flat. And more books were stacked along the walls, looking like they had been put there simply to get them out of the way. A desk was covered in random knick-knacks, and had papers strewn across the majority of it. Over the desk was a smaller version of the coat of arms although it appeared to be the original, the aura of power emanating from it was at once calming and invigorating. Its design was odd. It was as old buckler shield round and flat with a silver trim, it appeared that the background was black however there also appeared to be blue flames, frozen in time, eating away at the black. Emblazoned in silver on this background one of the most confusing designs she had ever seen, the central element was a horizontal line running through a circle in the center, bisecting the shield. The top half contained symbols of a lightning bolt and crooked path crossed over each other, while the bottom part contained a sailing ship over a crescent moon holding a rose. Crossed behind the shield were two sheathed swords, one emerald green, and the other sapphire blue. And finally in the scroll work above and below the shield she saw in flowing script, though a language she did not know, what must have been the motto of the order. The next thing she noticed was a giant bed. It was situated off in one corner, allowing for the maximum amount of room for a dragon to curl up within the space. The bed itself was large enough for a dragon even larger than Mer to comfortably turn around in.

"What…is this place?"

Ash turned to find Jason standing with the curtain pulled back and Feuer's snout poking in from behind.

"Dunno," she quipped

"How'd you know about it then?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Which she kind of already did. Stupid dragons and their illusions.

This whole place was a time capsule, and they had stumbled upon it by chance. Who knew what would happen to this place is Katja had discovered it and led the Governments here. One room alone was full of history that she had no idea existed. And it all belonged to the Riders of old. But why? Why was this the only place that held such knowledge? Were there other places like it?

"Hey, do you know these people in this picture, Ash? I never got a history lesson and they look important." Jason called from the other side of the room.

Ash crossed the room to stand next to him. He was staring at a large tapestry that portrayed a celebration of some sort. It appeared to be a stylized map of Alagaësia that showed humans celebrating along the left hand side while what looked to be Urgals from the old stories were shown in a region of the spine, while the Elves were in their forest to the north, and dwarves in the mountains to the south. The very bottom of the tapestry depicted a massive black dragon spread across the entire length, dead. A group of people were featured in the center with three dragons; one blue, one green, and one red standing over them. They were all gathered around a table and the one the blue dragon was standing over was holding a…was that a quill?

"This is beyond ancient…" Ash breathed out.

Jason glanced at her and back to the tapestry. "Really? Who's in it?"

"I don't know. I only know roughly the last one hundred years. This…this is way before that. I'm not even sure that A'ilarin would know about this." Ash brought her hand up and touched the tapestry. She could not tell what it was made out of, but whatever it was it was sturdy and well crafted.

"I think this dates back to when the Riders were made. You know, with the elves and stuff?" Ash mused.

"Elves? Aren't they just in storybooks?" Jason asked in a small voice.

Ash turned and looked around the room. It would all make sense that everything here was from a time before the Rider Academy existed, at least beyond the last hundred years. She moved to the table and looked at the map. There were countries marked on it whose names made no sense to her. She recognized almost none of them. The figurines on the table were placed in an array, pointing out different locations. Their meaning was lost on her.

"Jase, this whole room is filled with stuff that has been lost to history. I don't know what any of this is." Ash muttered.

Mer rumbled from the other side of the room. _There is someone coming from the outside._

Ash looked up quickly from that map and before she knew it, she was making her way to the door.

"Can you tell who it is?" she asked.

She was on the landing now, standing next to Feuer as she peered down to the bottom of the cavern. Jason came out and was already climbing onto his dragon's back.

"Do you want me to head down there?"

"Yeah, go. I'll be right behind you." And he was gone before she even finished talking. Mer came out of the cave and waited for her.

Ash wanted to give Jason some time to descend, it would be a train wreck if they were too close to each other, despite the space this place offered.

Another moment later, she hopped on and they were off, circling like a hawk as they glided down. About half way, Jason landed and made his way to the tunnel, Feuer close behind.

Soon enough they landed and Ash was off of Mer's back in a flash, making her way outside as fast as she could. The tunnel was lit orange, the sun was already setting.

Ash brought a hand up to block the glare before her as she exited the tunnel. Jason and Feuer were standing just ahead of her, still as they stared at the person before them.

"Hey, what's going on-?"

"Ashley?"

Ash blinked and looked at the figure that was backlit by the sun. There was no way she could mistake that silhouette for anyone else.

She nearly knocked Jason over and took off running, tackling the person she had been missing for the past week.

"A'ilarin! Thank the gods!"

Finally.

* * *

 **There we have it, folks. Lot's of good things happening in there. I wonder if you will catch them all. :P**

 **Reviews! Hey, we got to 50 reviews! That's awesome guys, thank you bunches!**

* * *

 **The Age of Awesomeness** **: The schedule has been blown to smithereens. No longer using one. Forget it. Way to hard to maintain. I thank you for that bit of advice. :)**

* * *

 **Lord Verres** **: Ah, the infamous Guest from long ago. Welcome back! Glad you are still enjoying this story, can't wait to see what you think of this chapter.**

* * *

 **Nechochwen** **: Sooner or later we will find out if the Prof knows or not. I don't really know if Ash and Jason will ever truly be out of danger until the Governments and their tyranny have been dealt with. That may be a long time coming for the Riders.**

* * *

 **Thank you to those that reviewed. We even got a few more favs and follows this time around. Sweet!**

 **As I mentioned in Awesomeness' response, the schedule no longer exists. I thought I was going to be able to work it, especially with another multichapter fic running as well. I think rotating between them will be the best course of action. Needless to say, updates will be increasingly infrequent. This semester is drawing to a close and finals will be happening within the next 4 weeks or so. I will have to put everything on hold in order to study for my exams when they get here, so we have another couple of weeks where I can still write. I hope you all understand. :)**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogey**


	35. Author's Note

Hey, people.

I know this isn't a chapter, but I have to tell you that I will be going on hiatus for roughly a week. I was hoping to update this weekend but I have 3 finals at the beginning of the week, so I will need the weekend to study for them all.

I realize I haven't updated for awhile either. I have been dealing with some mental health issues along with college. I hope you all can understand. I promise updates will be more frequent once finals are all over and I have my life back from college.

And with that, more stories! Yay!

So to preview:

I have a oneshot in the works dedicated to Fairy Tail Angst Week on tumblr that I will be posting here as well. It's a collab piece with a friend of mine. There will also be a new story coming out the end of May that is another collab piece, but I am responsible for the whole writing part of it. There will be art and headcanons posted for it on tumblr when it is released. (Sorry, I know the readers of The Riders Return aren't necessarily interested in this, but it saves me from having to write another one of these.)

In the meantime, I will be working on the new chapters for What was Never Finished and The Riders Return. Outlines have been drawn up so I do know where I was going with them.

For those that are reading TRR, I am planning on having 50 chapters for it, and then I will start planning a sequel. As much as I would like to have it as a forever fic, and having so much more that I want to do with it, it needs to be broken up into multiple fics. I'm kinda hoping for it to be a trilogy, but we will see where the sequel will take us.

And for WWNF, it is still ongoing, and there are many, many things that I still have planned for it. As you all know it is a slow burner and will be just as long as TRR, if not more. Yup, I have that much planned for it.

I hope you all stay tuned for what's in the future and you all continue to read my writing. I greatly appreciate it. But I really must take this time off in order to focus on school.

Feel free to review on this, I will be posting around it.

Until next time,

Mogi


End file.
